Management of unmanaged user accounts and tasks in a multi-account mobile application

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing mobile application management (MAM) functionalities are presented. In some embodiments, a mobile device may initialize a partially managed application associated with a first managed user account and an unmanaged user account. The mobile device may execute first managed tasks associated with the first managed user account in accordance with a first set of MAM policies provided by a first MAM service provider. The mobile device may execute unmanaged tasks associated with the unmanaged account independent of the first set of MAM policies. In some embodiments, the mobile device may initialize the multi-account managed application associated with a second managed user account.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/151,972, filed Jan. 10,2014, entitled “MANAGEMENT OF UNMANAGED USER ACCOUNTS AND TASKS IN AMULTI-ACCOUNT MOBILE APPLICATION”. The above-mentioned patentapplication is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Aspects of the disclosure relate to computer hardware and software. Inparticular, one or more aspects of the disclosure generally relate tocomputer hardware and software for providing mobile device managementfunctionalities.

Increasingly, corporations and other organizations are providing and/orotherwise enabling their employees and other associates with mobiledevices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, and other mobilecomputing devices. As these devices continue to grow in popularity andprovide an increasing number of functions, many organizations may wishto place certain controls on how these devices can be used, whatresources these devices can access, and how the applications running onthese devices can interact with other resources. For example, manyorganizations may wish to place certain controls on one or moreapplications present on these devices to control how the user caninteract with those applications.

SUMMARY

Various aspects of the disclosure provide efficient, effective,functional, and convenient ways of controlling how mobile devices can beused, what resources mobile devices can access, and how the applicationsand other software running on these devices can interact with otherresources. In particular, in one or more embodiments discussed ingreater detail below, mobile application management functionalities aredeployed, implemented, and/or used in a number of different ways toprovide one or more of these and/or other advantages.

Using some conventional systems, enterprise organizations may be able tomanage an application in its entirety or not at all. In one or moreembodiments discussed in greater detail below, techniques forselectively managing various aspects of applications are provided.

In some embodiments, a mobile device may initialize a partially managedapplication associated with a first managed user account and anunmanaged user account. The mobile device may execute one or more firstmanaged tasks associated with the first managed user account inaccordance with a first set of mobile application management (MAM)policies provided by a first MAM service provider. In addition, themobile device may execute one or more unmanaged tasks associated withthe unmanaged user account independent of the first set of MAM policiesprovided by the first MAM service provider. The mobile device mayconcurrently execute the one or more first managed tasks and the one ormore unmanaged tasks.

In some embodiments, a mobile device may initialize a multi-accountmanaged application associated with a first managed user account and asecond managed user account different from the first managed useraccount. The mobile device may execute one or more first managed tasksassociated with the first managed user account in accordance with afirst set of mobile application management (MAM) policies provided by afirst MAM service provider and independent of a second set of MAMpolicies provided by a second MAM service provider. The second set ofMAM policies may be different from the first set of MAM policies and thesecond MAM service provider may be different from the first MAM serviceprovider. The mobile device may execute one or more second managed tasksassociated with the second managed user account in accordance with thesecond set of MAM policies provided by the second MAM service providerand independent of the first set of MAM policies provided by the firstMAM service provider. The mobile device may concurrently execute the oneor more first managed tasks and the one or more second managed tasks.

These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detailbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative computer system architecture that may beused in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative remote-access system architecture thatmay be used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative virtualized (hypervisor) systemarchitecture that may be used in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative cloud-based system architecture that maybe used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative enterprise mobility management system.

FIG. 6 depicts another illustrative enterprise mobility managementsystem.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of initializing amulti-account managed application and selectively enforcing managementpolicies to accounts of the multi-account managed application inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein.

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of executing a taskwhile preventing a semantically equivalent task in accordance with oneor more illustrative aspects discussed herein.

FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of switchingbetween managed tasks and unmanaged tasks based on which user account ofa partially managed application is in focus in accordance with one ormore illustrative aspects discussed herein.

FIG. 10 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of switchingbetween first managed tasks and second managed tasks based on which useraccount of a multi-account managed application is in focus in accordancewith one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of performingtasks in a background context in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings identified above and which form a parthereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodimentsin which aspects described herein may be practiced. It is to beunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural andfunctional modifications may be made without departing from the scopedescribed herein. Various aspects are capable of other embodiments andof being practiced or being carried out in various different ways.

As a general introduction to the subject matter described in more detailbelow, aspects described herein are directed towards controlling remoteaccess to resources at an enterprise computing system using managedmobile applications at mobile computing devices. An access manager mayperform a validation process that determines whether a mobileapplication requesting access to enterprise resources has accuratelyidentified itself and has not been subsequently altered afterinstallation at the mobile computing device. In this way, the accessmanager may ensure the mobile application requesting access to theenterprise resource can be trusted and is not attempting to circumventthe security mechanisms used to protect those enterprise resources. As aresult, individuals associated with the enterprise may advantageouslyutilize enterprise resources at their personal mobile devices.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used hereinare for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be giventheir broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and“comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the itemslisted thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional itemsand equivalents thereof. The use of the terms “mounted,” “connected,”“coupled,” “positioned,” “engaged” and similar terms, is meant toinclude both direct and indirect mounting, connecting, coupling,positioning and engaging.

Computing Architecture

Computer software, hardware, and networks may be utilized in a varietyof different system environments, including standalone, networked,remote-access (aka, remote desktop), virtualized, and/or cloud-basedenvironments, among others. FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a systemarchitecture and data processing device that may be used to implementone or more illustrative aspects described herein in a standalone and/ornetworked environment. Various network nodes 103, 105, 107, and 109 maybe interconnected via a wide area network (WAN) 101, such as theInternet. Other networks may also or alternatively be used, includingprivate intranets, corporate networks, local area networks (LANs),metropolitan area networks (MAN), wireless networks, personal networks(PAN), and the like. Network 101 is for illustration purposes and may bereplaced with fewer or additional computer networks. A LAN may have oneor more of any known LAN topology and may use one or more of a varietyof different protocols, such as Ethernet. Devices 103, 105, 107, 109 andother devices (not shown) may be connected to one or more of thenetworks via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiber optics, radiowaves or other communication media.

The term “network” as used herein and depicted in the drawings refersnot only to systems in which remote storage devices are coupled togethervia one or more communication paths, but also to stand-alone devicesthat may be coupled, from time to time, to such systems that havestorage capability. Consequently, the term “network” includes not only a“physical network” but also a “content network,” which is comprised ofthe data—attributable to a single entity—which resides across allphysical networks.

The components may include data server 103, web server 105, and clientcomputers 107, 109. Data server 103 provides overall access, control andadministration of databases and control software for performing one ormore illustrative aspects describe herein. Data server 103 may beconnected to web server 105 through which users interact with and obtaindata as requested. Alternatively, data server 103 may act as a webserver itself and be directly connected to the Internet. Data server 103may be connected to web server 105 through the network 101 (e.g., theInternet), via direct or indirect connection, or via some other network.Users may interact with the data server 103 using remote computers 107,109, e.g., using a web browser to connect to the data server 103 via oneor more externally exposed web sites hosted by web server 105. Clientcomputers 107, 109 may be used in concert with data server 103 to accessdata stored therein, or may be used for other purposes. For example,from client device 107 a user may access web server 105 using anInternet browser, as is known in the art, or by executing a softwareapplication that communicates with web server 105 and/or data server 103over a computer network (such as the Internet).

Servers and applications may be combined on the same physical machines,and retain separate virtual or logical addresses, or may reside onseparate physical machines. FIG. 1 illustrates just one example of anetwork architecture that may be used, and those of skill in the artwill appreciate that the specific network architecture and dataprocessing devices used may vary, and are secondary to the functionalitythat they provide, as further described herein. For example, servicesprovided by web server 105 and data server 103 may be combined on asingle server.

Each component 103, 105, 107, 109 may be any type of known computer,server, or data processing device. Data server 103, e.g., may include aprocessor 111 controlling overall operation of the rate server 103. Dataserver 103 may further include RAM 113, ROM 115, network interface 117,input/output interfaces 119 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, display, printer,etc.), and memory 121. I/O 119 may include a variety of interface unitsand drives for reading, writing, displaying, and/or printing data orfiles. Memory 121 may further store operating system software 123 forcontrolling overall operation of the data processing device 103, controllogic 125 for instructing data server 103 to perform aspects describedherein, and other application software 127 providing secondary, support,and/or other functionality which may or may not be used in conjunctionwith aspects described herein. The control logic may also be referred toherein as the data server software 125. Functionality of the data serversoftware may refer to operations or decisions made automatically basedon rules coded into the control logic, made manually by a user providinginput into the system, and/or a combination of automatic processingbased on user input (e.g., queries, data updates, etc.).

Memory 121 may also store data used in performance of one or moreaspects described herein, including a first database 129 and a seconddatabase 131. In some embodiments, the first database may include thesecond database (e.g., as a separate table, report, etc.). That is, theinformation can be stored in a single database, or separated intodifferent logical, virtual, or physical databases, depending on systemdesign. Devices 105, 107, 109 may have similar or different architectureas described with respect to device 103. Those of skill in the art willappreciate that the functionality of data processing device 103 (ordevice 105, 107, 109) as described herein may be spread across multipledata processing devices, for example, to distribute processing loadacross multiple computers, to segregate transactions based on geographiclocation, user access level, quality of service (QoS), etc.

One or more aspects may be embodied in computer-usable or readable dataand/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices as describedherein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor ina computer or other device. The modules may be written in a source codeprogramming language that is subsequently compiled for execution, or maybe written in a scripting language such as (but not limited to)Javascript or ActionScript. The computer executable instructions may bestored on a computer readable medium such as a nonvolatile storagedevice. Any suitable computer readable storage media may be utilized,including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storagedevices, and/or any combination thereof. In addition, varioustransmission (non-storage) media representing data or events asdescribed herein may be transferred between a source and a destinationin the form of electromagnetic waves traveling through signal-conductingmedia such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/or wireless transmissionmedia (e.g., air and/or space). Various aspects described herein may beembodied as a method, a data processing system, or a computer programproduct. Therefore, various functionalities may be embodied in whole orin part in software, firmware and/or hardware or hardware equivalentssuch as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), andthe like. Particular data structures may be used to more effectivelyimplement one or more aspects described herein, and such data structuresare contemplated within the scope of computer executable instructionsand computer-usable data described herein.

With further reference to FIG. 2, one or more aspects described hereinmay be implemented in a remote-access environment. FIG. 2 depicts anexample system architecture including a generic computing device 201 inan illustrative computing environment 200 that may be used according toone or more illustrative aspects described herein. Generic computingdevice 201 may be used as a server 206 a in a single-server ormulti-server desktop virtualization system (e.g., a remote access orcloud system) configured to provide virtual machines for client accessdevices. The generic computing device 201 may have a processor 203 forcontrolling overall operation of the server and its associatedcomponents, including random access memory (RAM) 205, read-only memory(ROM) 207, input/output (I/O) module 209, and memory 215.

I/O module 209 may include a mouse, keypad, touch screen, scanner,optical reader, and/or stylus (or other input device(s)) through which auser of generic computing device 201 may provide input, and may alsoinclude one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a videodisplay device for providing textual, audiovisual, and/or graphicaloutput. Software may be stored within memory 215 and/or other storage toprovide instructions to processor 203 for configuring generic computingdevice 201 into a special purpose computing device in order to performvarious functions as described herein. For example, memory 215 may storesoftware used by the computing device 201, such as an operating system217, application programs 219, and an associated database 221.

Computing device 201 may operate in a networked environment supportingconnections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals 240 (alsoreferred to as client devices). The terminals 240 may be personalcomputers, mobile devices, laptop computers, tablets, or servers thatinclude many or all of the elements described above with respect to thegeneric computing device 103 or 201. The network connections depicted inFIG. 2 include a local area network (LAN) 225 and a wide area network(WAN) 229, but may also include other networks. When used in a LANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may be connected to the LAN225 through a network interface or adapter 223. When used in a WANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may include a modem 227 orother wide area network interface for establishing communications overthe WAN 229, such as computer network 230 (e.g., the Internet). It willbe appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used. Computing device 201 and/or terminals 240 may also bemobile terminals (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, notebooks,etc.) including various other components, such as a battery, speaker,and antennas (not shown).

Aspects described herein may also be operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of other computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with aspectsdescribed herein include, but are not limited to, personal computers,server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include any of the above systemsor devices, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, one or more client devices 240 may be incommunication with one or more servers 206 a-206 n (generally referredto herein as “server(s) 206”). In one embodiment, the computingenvironment 200 may include a network appliance installed between theserver(s) 206 and client machine(s) 240. The network appliance maymanage client/server connections, and in some cases can load balanceclient connections amongst a plurality of backend servers 206.

The client machine(s) 240 may in some embodiments be referred to as asingle client machine 240 or a single group of client machines 240,while server(s) 206 may be referred to as a single server 206 or asingle group of servers 206. In one embodiment a single client machine240 communicates with more than one server 206, while in anotherembodiment a single server 206 communicates with more than one clientmachine 240. In yet another embodiment, a single client machine 240communicates with a single server 206.

A client machine 240 can, in some embodiments, be referenced by any oneof the following non-exhaustive terms: client machine(s); client(s);client computer(s); client device(s); client computing device(s); localmachine; remote machine; client node(s); endpoint(s); or endpointnode(s). The server 206, in some embodiments, may be referenced by anyone of the following non-exhaustive terms: server(s), local machine;remote machine; server farm(s), or host computing device(s).

In one embodiment, the client machine 240 may be a virtual machine. Thevirtual machine may be any virtual machine, while in some embodimentsthe virtual machine may be any virtual machine managed by a Type 1 orType 2 hypervisor, for example, a hypervisor developed by CitrixSystems, IBM, VMware, or any other hypervisor. In some aspects, thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor, while in aspects thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor executing on a server 206or a hypervisor executing on a client 240.

Some embodiments include a client device 240 that displays applicationoutput generated by an application remotely executing on a server 206 orother remotely located machine. In these embodiments, the client device240 may execute a virtual machine client agent program or application todisplay the output in an application window, a browser, or other outputwindow. In one example, the application is a desktop, while in otherexamples the application is an application that generates or presents adesktop. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications, as used herein, areprograms that execute after an instance of an operating system (and,optionally, also the desktop) has been loaded.

The server 206, in some embodiments, uses a remote presentation protocolor other program to send data to a thin-client or remote-displayapplication executing on the client to present display output generatedby an application executing on the server 206. The thin-client orremote-display protocol can be any one of the following non-exhaustivelist of protocols: the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocoldeveloped by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the RemoteDesktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation ofRedmond, Wash.

A remote computing environment may include more than one server 206a-206 n such that the servers 206 a-206 n are logically grouped togetherinto a server farm 206, for example, in a cloud computing environment.The server farm 206 may include servers 206 that are geographicallydispersed while and logically grouped together, or servers 206 that arelocated proximate to each other while logically grouped together.Geographically dispersed servers 206 a-206 n within a server farm 206can, in some embodiments, communicate using a WAN (wide), MAN(metropolitan), or LAN (local), where different geographic regions canbe characterized as: different continents; different regions of acontinent; different countries; different states; different cities;different campuses; different rooms; or any combination of the precedinggeographical locations. In some embodiments the server farm 206 may beadministered as a single entity, while in other embodiments the serverfarm 206 can include multiple server farms.

In some embodiments, a server farm may include servers 206 that executea substantially similar type of operating system platform (e.g.,WINDOWS, UNIX, LINUX, iOS, ANDROID, SYMBIAN, etc.) In other embodiments,server farm 206 may include a first group of one or more servers thatexecute a first type of operating system platform, and a second group ofone or more servers that execute a second type of operating systemplatform.

Server 206 may be configured as any type of server, as needed, e.g., afile server, an application server, a web server, a proxy server, anappliance, a network appliance, a gateway, an application gateway, agateway server, a virtualization server, a deployment server, a SSL VPNserver, a firewall, a web server, an application server or as a masterapplication server, a server executing an active directory, or a serverexecuting an application acceleration program that provides firewallfunctionality, application functionality, or load balancingfunctionality. Other server types may also be used.

Some embodiments include a first server 206 a that receives requestsfrom a client machine 240, forwards the request to a second server 206b, and responds to the request generated by the client machine 240 witha response from the second server 206 b. First server 206 a may acquirean enumeration of applications available to the client machine 240 andwell as address information associated with an application server 206hosting an application identified within the enumeration ofapplications. First server 206 a can then present a response to theclient's request using a web interface, and communicate directly withthe client 240 to provide the client 240 with access to an identifiedapplication. One or more clients 240 and/or one or more servers 206 maytransmit data over network 230, e.g., network 101.

FIG. 2 shows a high-level architecture of an illustrative desktopvirtualization system. As shown, the desktop virtualization system maybe single-server or multi-server system, or cloud system, including atleast one virtualization server 206 configured to provide virtualdesktops and/or virtual applications to one or more client accessdevices 240. As used herein, a desktop refers to a graphical environmentor space in which one or more applications may be hosted and/orexecuted. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications may include programsthat execute after an instance of an operating system (and, optionally,also the desktop) has been loaded. Each instance of the operating systemmay be physical (e.g., one operating system per device) or virtual(e.g., many instances of an OS running on a single device). Eachapplication may be executed on a local device, or executed on a remotelylocated device (e.g., remoted).

With further reference to FIG. 3, a computer device 301 may beconfigured as a virtualization server in a virtualization environment,for example, a single-server, multi-server, or cloud computingenvironment. Virtualization server 301 illustrated in FIG. 3 can bedeployed as and/or implemented by one or more embodiments of the server206 illustrated in FIG. 2 or by other known computing devices. Includedin virtualization server 301 is a hardware layer that can include one ormore physical disks 304, one or more physical devices 306, one or morephysical processors 308 and one or more physical memories 316. In someembodiments, firmware 312 can be stored within a memory element in thephysical memory 316 and can be executed by one or more of the physicalprocessors 308. Virtualization server 301 may further include anoperating system 314 that may be stored in a memory element in thephysical memory 316 and executed by one or more of the physicalprocessors 308. Still further, a hypervisor 302 may be stored in amemory element in the physical memory 316 and can be executed by one ormore of the physical processors 308.

Executing on one or more of the physical processors 308 may be one ormore virtual machines 332A-C (generally 332). Each virtual machine 332may have a virtual disk 326A-C and a virtual processor 328A-C. In someembodiments, a first virtual machine 332A may execute, using a virtualprocessor 328A, a control program 320 that includes a tools stack 324.Control program 320 may be referred to as a control virtual machine,Dom0, Domain 0, or other virtual machine used for system administrationand/or control. In some embodiments, one or more virtual machines 332B-Ccan execute, using a virtual processor 328B-C, a guest operating system330A-B.

Virtualization server 301 may include a hardware layer 310 with one ormore pieces of hardware that communicate with the virtualization server301. In some embodiments, the hardware layer 310 can include one or morephysical disks 304, one or more physical devices 306, one or morephysical processors 308, and one or more memory 216. Physical components304, 306, 308, and 316 may include, for example, any of the componentsdescribed above. Physical devices 306 may include, for example, anetwork interface card, a video card, a keyboard, a mouse, an inputdevice, a monitor, a display device, speakers, an optical drive, astorage device, a universal serial bus connection, a printer, a scanner,a network element (e.g., router, firewall, network address translator,load balancer, virtual private network (VPN) gateway, Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP) router, etc.), or any device connected toor communicating with virtualization server 301. Physical memory 316 inthe hardware layer 310 may include any type of memory. Physical memory316 may store data, and in some embodiments may store one or moreprograms, or set of executable instructions. FIG. 3 illustrates anembodiment where firmware 312 is stored within the physical memory 316of virtualization server 301. Programs or executable instructions storedin the physical memory 316 can be executed by the one or more processors308 of virtualization server 301.

Virtualization server 301 may also include a hypervisor 302. In someembodiments, hypervisor 302 may be a program executed by processors 308on virtualization server 301 to create and manage any number of virtualmachines 332. Hypervisor 302 may be referred to as a virtual machinemonitor, or platform virtualization software. In some embodiments,hypervisor 302 can be any combination of executable instructions andhardware that monitors virtual machines executing on a computingmachine. Hypervisor 302 may be Type 2 hypervisor, where the hypervisorthat executes within an operating system 314 executing on thevirtualization server 301. Virtual machines then execute at a levelabove the hypervisor. In some embodiments, the Type 2 hypervisorexecutes within the context of a user's operating system such that theType 2 hypervisor interacts with the user's operating system. In otherembodiments, one or more virtualization servers 201 in a virtualizationenvironment may instead include a Type 1 hypervisor (Not Shown). A Type1 hypervisor may execute on the virtualization server 301 by directlyaccessing the hardware and resources within the hardware layer 310. Thatis, while a Type 2 hypervisor 302 accesses system resources through ahost operating system 314, as shown, a Type 1 hypervisor may directlyaccess all system resources without the host operating system 314. AType 1 hypervisor may execute directly on one or more physicalprocessors 308 of virtualization server 301, and may include programdata stored in the physical memory 316.

Hypervisor 302, in some embodiments, can provide virtual resources tooperating systems 330 or control programs 320 executing on virtualmachines 332 in any manner that simulates the operating systems 330 orcontrol programs 320 having direct access to system resources. Systemresources can include, but are not limited to, physical devices 306,physical disks 304, physical processors 308, physical memory 316 and anyother component included in virtualization server 301 hardware layer310. Hypervisor 302 may be used to emulate virtual hardware, partitionphysical hardware, virtualize physical hardware, and/or execute virtualmachines that provide access to computing environments. In still otherembodiments, hypervisor 302 controls processor scheduling and memorypartitioning for a virtual machine 332 executing on virtualizationserver 301. Hypervisor 302 may include those manufactured by VMWare,Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif.; the XEN hypervisor, an open source productwhose development is overseen by the open source Xen.org community;HyperV, VirtualServer or virtual PC hypervisors provided by Microsoft,or others. In some embodiments, virtualization server 301 executes ahypervisor 302 that creates a virtual machine platform on which guestoperating systems may execute. In these embodiments, the virtualizationserver 301 may be referred to as a host server. An example of such avirtualization server is the XEN SERVER provided by Citrix Systems,Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hypervisor 302 may create one or more virtual machines 332B-C (generally332) in which guest operating systems 330 execute. In some embodiments,hypervisor 302 may load a virtual machine image to create a virtualmachine 332. In other embodiments, the hypervisor 302 may executes aguest operating system 330 within virtual machine 332. In still otherembodiments, virtual machine 332 may execute guest operating system 330.

In addition to creating virtual machines 332, hypervisor 302 may controlthe execution of at least one virtual machine 332. In other embodiments,hypervisor 302 may presents at least one virtual machine 332 with anabstraction of at least one hardware resource provided by thevirtualization server 301 (e.g., any hardware resource available withinthe hardware layer 310). In other embodiments, hypervisor 302 maycontrol the manner in which virtual machines 332 access physicalprocessors 308 available in virtualization server 301. Controllingaccess to physical processors 308 may include determining whether avirtual machine 332 should have access to a processor 308, and howphysical processor capabilities are presented to the virtual machine332.

As shown in FIG. 3, virtualization server 301 may host or execute one ormore virtual machines 332. A virtual machine 332 is a set of executableinstructions that, when executed by a processor 308, imitate theoperation of a physical computer such that the virtual machine 332 canexecute programs and processes much like a physical computing device.While FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment where a virtualization server 301hosts three virtual machines 332, in other embodiments virtualizationserver 301 can host any number of virtual machines 332. Hypervisor 302,in some embodiments, provides each virtual machine 332 with a uniquevirtual view of the physical hardware, memory, processor and othersystem resources available to that virtual machine 332. In someembodiments, the unique virtual view can be based on one or more ofvirtual machine permissions, application of a policy engine to one ormore virtual machine identifiers, a user accessing a virtual machine,the applications executing on a virtual machine, networks accessed by avirtual machine, or any other desired criteria. For instance, hypervisor302 may create one or more unsecure virtual machines 332 and one or moresecure virtual machines 332. Unsecure virtual machines 332 may beprevented from accessing resources, hardware, memory locations, andprograms that secure virtual machines 332 may be permitted to access. Inother embodiments, hypervisor 302 may provide each virtual machine 332with a substantially similar virtual view of the physical hardware,memory, processor and other system resources available to the virtualmachines 332.

Each virtual machine 332 may include a virtual disk 326A-C (generally326) and a virtual processor 328A-C (generally 328.) The virtual disk326, in some embodiments, is a virtualized view of one or more physicaldisks 304 of the virtualization server 301, or a portion of one or morephysical disks 304 of the virtualization server 301. The virtualizedview of the physical disks 304 can be generated, provided and managed bythe hypervisor 302. In some embodiments, hypervisor 302 provides eachvirtual machine 332 with a unique view of the physical disks 304. Thus,in these embodiments, the particular virtual disk 326 included in eachvirtual machine 332 can be unique when compared with the other virtualdisks 326.

A virtual processor 328 can be a virtualized view of one or morephysical processors 308 of the virtualization server 301. In someembodiments, the virtualized view of the physical processors 308 can begenerated, provided and managed by hypervisor 302. In some embodiments,virtual processor 328 has substantially all of the same characteristicsof at least one physical processor 308. In other embodiments, virtualprocessor 308 provides a modified view of physical processors 308 suchthat at least some of the characteristics of the virtual processor 328are different than the characteristics of the corresponding physicalprocessor 308.

With further reference to FIG. 4, some aspects described herein may beimplemented in a cloud-based environment. FIG. 4 illustrates an exampleof a cloud computing environment (or cloud system) 400. As seen in FIG.4, client computers 411-414 may communicate with a cloud managementserver 410 to access the computing resources (e.g., host servers 403,storage resources 404, and network resources 405) of the cloud system.

Management server 410 may be implemented on one or more physicalservers. The management server 410 may run, for example, CLOUDSTACK byCitrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., or OPENSTACK, amongothers. Management server 410 may manage various computing resources,including cloud hardware and software resources, for example, hostcomputers 403, data storage devices 404, and networking devices 405. Thecloud hardware and software resources may include private and/or publiccomponents. For example, a cloud may be configured as a private cloud tobe used by one or more particular customers or client computers 411-414and/or over a private network. In other embodiments, public clouds orhybrid public-private clouds may be used by other customers over an openor hybrid networks.

Management server 410 may be configured to provide user interfacesthrough which cloud operators and cloud customers may interact with thecloud system. For example, the management server 410 may provide a setof APIs and/or one or more cloud operator console applications (e.g.,web-based or standalone applications) with user interfaces to allowcloud operators to manage the cloud resources, configure thevirtualization layer, manage customer accounts, and perform other cloudadministration tasks. The management server 410 also may include a setof APIs and/or one or more customer console applications with userinterfaces configured to receive cloud computing requests from end usersvia client computers 411-414, for example, requests to create, modify,or destroy virtual machines within the cloud. Client computers 411-414may connect to management server 410 via the Internet or othercommunication network, and may request access to one or more of thecomputing resources managed by management server 410. In response toclient requests, the management server 410 may include a resourcemanager configured to select and provision physical resources in thehardware layer of the cloud system based on the client requests. Forexample, the management server 410 and additional components of thecloud system may be configured to provision, create, and manage virtualmachines and their operating environments (e.g., hypervisors, storageresources, services offered by the network elements, etc.) for customersat client computers 411-414, over a network (e.g., the Internet),providing customers with computational resources, data storage services,networking capabilities, and computer platform and application support.Cloud systems also may be configured to provide various specificservices, including security systems, development environments, userinterfaces, and the like.

Certain clients 411-414 may be related, for example, different clientcomputers creating virtual machines on behalf of the same end user, ordifferent users affiliated with the same company or organization. Inother examples, certain clients 411-414 may be unrelated, such as usersaffiliated with different companies or organizations. For unrelatedclients, information on the virtual machines or storage of any one usermay be hidden from other users.

Referring now to the physical hardware layer of a cloud computingenvironment, availability zones 401-402 (or zones) may refer to acollocated set of physical computing resources. Zones may begeographically separated from other zones in the overall cloud ofcomputing resources. For example, zone 401 may be a first clouddatacenter located in California, and zone 402 may be a second clouddatacenter located in Florida. Management sever 410 may be located atone of the availability zones, or at a separate location. Each zone mayinclude an internal network that interfaces with devices that areoutside of the zone, such as the management server 410, through agateway. End users of the cloud (e.g., clients 411-414) might or mightnot be aware of the distinctions between zones. For example, an end usermay request the creation of a virtual machine having a specified amountof memory, processing power, and network capabilities. The managementserver 410 may respond to the user's request and may allocate theresources to create the virtual machine without the user knowing whetherthe virtual machine was created using resources from zone 401 or zone402. In other examples, the cloud system may allow end users to requestthat virtual machines (or other cloud resources) are allocated in aspecific zone or on specific resources 403-405 within a zone.

In this example, each zone 401-402 may include an arrangement of variousphysical hardware components (or computing resources) 403-405, forexample, physical hosting resources (or processing resources), physicalnetwork resources, physical storage resources, switches, and additionalhardware resources that may be used to provide cloud computing servicesto customers. The physical hosting resources in a cloud zone 401-402 mayinclude one or more computer servers 403, such as the virtualizationservers 301 described above, which may be configured to create and hostvirtual machine instances. The physical network resources in a cloudzone 401 or 402 may include one or more network elements 405 (e.g.,network service providers) comprising hardware and/or softwareconfigured to provide a network service to cloud customers, such asfirewalls, network address translators, load balancers, virtual privatenetwork (VPN) gateways, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)routers, and the like. The storage resources in the cloud zone 401-402may include storage disks (e.g., solid state drives (SSDs), magnetichard disks, etc.) and other storage devices.

The example cloud computing environment shown in FIG. 4 also may includea virtualization layer (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 1-3) with additionalhardware and/or software resources configured to create and managevirtual machines and provide other services to customers using thephysical resources in the cloud. The virtualization layer may includehypervisors, as described above in FIG. 3, along with other componentsto provide network virtualizations, storage virtualizations, etc. Thevirtualization layer may be as a separate layer from the physicalresource layer, or may share some or all of the same hardware and/orsoftware resources with the physical resource layer. For example, thevirtualization layer may include a hypervisor installed in each of thevirtualization servers 403 with the physical computing resources. Knowncloud systems may alternatively be used, e.g., WINDOWS AZURE (MicrosoftCorporation of Redmond Wash.), AMAZON EC2 (Amazon.com Inc. of Seattle,Wash.), IBM BLUE CLOUD (IBM Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.), or others.

Enterprise Mobility Management Architecture

FIG. 5 represents an enterprise mobility technical architecture 500 foruse in a BYOD environment. The architecture enables a user of a mobiledevice 502 to both access enterprise or personal resources from a mobiledevice 502 and use the mobile device 502 for personal use. The user mayaccess such enterprise resources 504 or enterprise services 508 using amobile device 502 that is purchased by the user or a mobile device 502that is provided by the enterprise to the user. The user may utilize themobile device 502 for business use only or for business and personaluse. The mobile device may run an iOS operating system, Androidoperating system, and/or the like. The enterprise may choose toimplement policies to manage the mobile device 504. The policies may beimplanted through a firewall or gateway in such a way that the mobiledevice may be identified, secured or security verified, and providedselective or full access to the enterprise resources. The policies maybe mobile device management policies, mobile application managementpolicies, mobile data management policies, or some combination of mobiledevice, application, and data management policies. A mobile device 504that is managed through the application of mobile device managementpolicies may be referred to as an enrolled device or a managed device.

In some embodiments, the operating system of the mobile device may beseparated into a managed partition 510 and an unmanaged partition 512.The managed partition 510 may have policies applied to it to secure theapplications running on and data stored in the managed partition. Inother embodiments, all applications may execute in accordance with a setof one or more policy files received separate from the application, andwhich define one or more security parameters, features, resourcerestrictions, and/or other access controls that are enforced by themobile device management system when that application is executing onthe device. By operating in accordance with their respective policyfile(s), each application may be allowed or restricted fromcommunications with one or more other applications and/or resources,thereby creating a virtual partition. Thus, as used herein, a partitionmay refer to a physically partitioned portion of memory (physicalpartition), a logically partitioned portion of memory (logicalpartition), and/or a virtual partition created as a result ofenforcement of one or more policies and/or policy files across multipleapps as described herein (virtual partition). Stated differently, byenforcing policies on managed apps, those apps may be restricted to onlybe able to communicate with other managed apps and trusted enterpriseresources, thereby creating a virtual partition that is impenetrable byunmanaged apps and devices.

The applications running on the managed partition may be secureapplications. The secure applications may be email applications, webbrowsing applications, software-as-a-service (SaaS) access applications,Windows Application access applications, and the like. The secureapplications may be secure native applications 514, secure remoteapplications 522 executed by a secure application launcher 518,virtualization applications 526 executed by a secure applicationlauncher 518, and the like. The secure native applications 514 may bewrapped by a secure application wrapper 520. The secure applicationwrapper 520 may include integrated policies that are executed on themobile device 502 when the secure native application is executed on thedevice. The secure application wrapper 520 may include meta-data thatpoints the secure native application 514 running on the mobile device502 to the resources hosted at the enterprise that the secure nativeapplication 514 may require to complete the task requested uponexecution of the secure native application 514. The secure remoteapplications 522 executed by a secure application launcher 518 may beexecuted within the secure application launcher application 518. Thevirtualization applications 526 executed by a secure applicationlauncher 518 may utilize resources on the mobile device 502, at theenterprise resources 504, and the like. The resources used on the mobiledevice 502 by the virtualization applications 526 executed by a secureapplication launcher 518 may include user interaction resources,processing resources, and the like. The user interaction resources maybe used to collect and transmit keyboard input, mouse input, camerainput, tactile input, audio input, visual input, gesture input, and thelike. The processing resources may be used to present a user interface,process data received from the enterprise resources 504, and the like.The resources used at the enterprise resources 504 by the virtualizationapplications 526 executed by a secure application launcher 518 mayinclude user interface generation resources, processing resources, andthe like. The user interface generation resources may be used toassemble a user interface, modify a user interface, refresh a userinterface, and the like. The processing resources may be used to createinformation, read information, update information, delete information,and the like. For example, the virtualization application may recorduser interactions associated with a GUI and communicate them to a serverapplication where the server application will use the user interactiondata as an input to the application operating on the server. In thisarrangement, an enterprise may elect to maintain the application on theserver side as well as data, files, etc. associated with theapplication. While an enterprise may elect to “mobilize” someapplications in accordance with the principles herein by securing themfor deployment on the mobile device, this arrangement may also beelected for certain applications. For example, while some applicationsmay be secured for use on the mobile device, others may not be preparedor appropriate for deployment on the mobile device so the enterprise mayelect to provide the mobile user access to the unprepared applicationsthrough virtualization techniques. As another example, the enterprisemay have large complex applications with large and complex data sets(e.g. material resource planning applications) where it would be verydifficult, or otherwise undesirable, to customize the application forthe mobile device so the enterprise may elect to provide access to theapplication through virtualization techniques. As yet another example,the enterprise may have an application that maintains highly secureddata (e.g. human resources data, customer data, engineering data) thatmay be deemed by the enterprise as too sensitive for even the securedmobile environment so the enterprise may elect to use virtualizationtechniques to permit mobile access to such applications and data. Anenterprise may elect to provide both fully secured and fully functionalapplications on the mobile device as well as a virtualizationapplication to allow access to applications that are deemed moreproperly operated on the server side. In an embodiment, thevirtualization application may store some data, files, etc. on themobile phone in one of the secure storage locations. An enterprise, forexample, may elect to allow certain information to be stored on thephone while not permitting other information.

In connection with the virtualization application, as described herein,the mobile device may have a virtualization application that is designedto present GUI's and then record user interactions with the GUI. Theapplication may communicate the user interactions to the server side tobe used by the server side application as user interactions with theapplication. In response, the application on the server side maytransmit back to the mobile device a new GUI. For example, the new GUImay be a static page, a dynamic page, an animation, or the like.

The secure applications may access data stored in a secure datacontainer 528 in the managed partition 510 of the mobile device. Thedata secured in the secure data container may be accessed by the securewrapped applications 514, applications executed by a secure applicationlauncher 518, virtualization applications 526 executed by a secureapplication launcher 518, and the like. The data stored in the securedata container 528 may include files, databases, and the like. The datastored in the secure data container 528 may include data restricted to aspecific secure application 530, shared among secure applications 532,and the like. Data restricted to a secure application may include securegeneral data 534 and highly secure data 538. Secure general data may usea strong form of encryption such as AES 128-bit encryption or the like,while highly secure data 538 may use a very strong form of encryptionsuch as AES 256-bit encryption. Data stored in the secure data container528 may be deleted from the device upon receipt of a command from thedevice manager 524. The secure applications may have a dual-mode option540. The dual mode option 540 may present the user with an option tooperate the secured application in an unsecured mode. In an unsecuredmode, the secure applications may access data stored in an unsecureddata container 542 on the unmanaged partition 512 of the mobile device502. The data stored in an unsecured data container may be personal data544. The data stored in an unsecured data container 542 may also beaccessed by unsecured applications 548 that are running on the unmanagedpartition 512 of the mobile device 502. The data stored in an unsecureddata container 542 may remain on the mobile device 502 when the datastored in the secure data container 528 is deleted from the mobiledevice 502. An enterprise may want to delete from the mobile deviceselected or all data, files, and/or applications owned, licensed orcontrolled by the enterprise (enterprise data) while leaving orotherwise preserving personal data, files, and/or applications owned,licensed or controlled by the user (personal data). This operation maybe referred to as a selective wipe. With the enterprise and personaldata arranged in accordance to the aspects described herein, anenterprise may perform a selective wipe.

The mobile device may connect to enterprise resources 504 and enterpriseservices 508 at an enterprise, to the public Internet 548, and the like.The mobile device may connect to enterprise resources 504 and enterpriseservices 508 through virtual private network connections. The virtualprivate network connections (also referred to at microVPN orapplication-specific VPN) may be specific to particular applications550, particular devices, particular secured areas on the mobile device,and the like (e.g., 552). For example, each of the wrapped applicationsin the secured area of the phone may access enterprise resources throughan application specific VPN such that access to the VPN would be grantedbased on attributes associated with the application, possibly inconjunction with user or device attribute information. The virtualprivate network connections may carry Microsoft Exchange traffic,Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HTTP traffic, HTTPS traffic,application management traffic, and the like. The virtual privatenetwork connections may support and enable single-sign-on authenticationprocesses 554. The single-sign-on processes may allow a user to providea single set of authentication credentials, which are then verified byan authentication service 558. The authentication service 558 may thengrant to the user access to multiple enterprise resources 504, withoutrequiring the user to provide authentication credentials to eachindividual enterprise resource 504.

The virtual private network connections may be established and managedby an access gateway 560. The access gateway 560 may include performanceenhancement features that manage, accelerate, and improve the deliveryof enterprise resources 504 to the mobile device 502. The access gatewaymay also re-route traffic from the mobile device 502 to the publicInternet 548, enabling the mobile device 502 to access publiclyavailable and unsecured applications that run on the public Internet548. The mobile device may connect to the access gateway via a transportnetwork 562. The transport network 562 may be a wired network, wirelessnetwork, cloud network, local area network, metropolitan area network,wide area network, public network, private network, and the like.

The enterprise resources 504 may include email servers, file sharingservers, SaaS applications, Web application servers, Windows applicationservers, and the like. Email servers may include Exchange servers, LotusNotes servers, and the like. File sharing servers may include ShareFileservers, and the like. SaaS applications may include Salesforce, and thelike. Windows application servers may include any application serverthat is built to provide applications that are intended to run on alocal Windows operating system, and the like. The enterprise resources504 may be premise-based resources, cloud based resources, and the like.The enterprise resources 504 may be accessed by the mobile device 502directly or through the access gateway 560. The enterprise resources 504may be accessed by the mobile device 502 via a transport network 562.The transport network 562 may be a wired network, wireless network,cloud network, local area network, metropolitan area network, wide areanetwork, public network, private network, and the like.

The enterprise services 508 may include authentication services 558,threat detection services 564, device manager services 524, file sharingservices 568, policy manager services 570, social integration services572, application controller services 574, and the like. Authenticationservices 558 may include user authentication services, deviceauthentication services, application authentication services, dataauthentication services and the like. Authentication services 558 mayuse certificates. The certificates may be stored on the mobile device502, by the enterprise resources 504, and the like. The certificatesstored on the mobile device 502 may be stored in an encrypted locationon the mobile device, the certificate may be temporarily stored on themobile device 502 for use at the time of authentication, and the like.Threat detection services 564 may include intrusion detection services,unauthorized access attempt detection services, and the like.Unauthorized access attempt detection services may include unauthorizedattempts to access devices, applications, data, and the like. Devicemanagement services 524 may include configuration, provisioning,security, support, monitoring, reporting, and decommissioning services.File sharing services 568 may include file management services, filestorage services, file collaboration services, and the like. Policymanager services 570 may include device policy manager services,application policy manager services, data policy manager services, andthe like. Social integration services 572 may include contactintegration services, collaboration services, integration with socialnetworks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and the like.Application controller services 574 may include management services,provisioning services, deployment services, assignment services,revocation services, wrapping services, and the like.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 500 may include anapplication store 578. The application store 578 may include unwrappedapplications 580, pre-wrapped applications 582, and the like.Applications may be populated in the application store 578 from theapplication controller 574. The application store 578 may be accessed bythe mobile device 502 through the access gateway 560, through the publicInternet 548, or the like. The application store may be provided with anintuitive and easy to use user interface. The application store 578 mayprovide access to a software development kit 584. The softwaredevelopment kit 584 may provide a user the capability to secureapplications selected by the user by wrapping the application asdescribed previously in this description. An application that has beenwrapped using the software development kit 584 may then be madeavailable to the mobile device 502 by populating it in the applicationstore 578 using the application controller 574.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 500 may include amanagement and analytics capability. The management and analyticscapability may provide information related to how resources are used,how often resources are used, and the like. Resources may includedevices, applications, data, and the like. How resources are used mayinclude which devices download which applications, which applicationsaccess which data, and the like. How often resources are used mayinclude how often an application has been downloaded, how many times aspecific set of data has been accessed by an application, and the like.

FIG. 6 is another illustrative enterprise mobility management system600. Some of the components of the mobility management system 500described above with reference to FIG. 5 have been omitted for the sakeof simplicity. The architecture of the system 600 depicted in FIG. 6 issimilar in many respects to the architecture of the system 500 describedabove with reference to FIG. 5 and may include additional features notmentioned above.

In this case, the left hand side represents an enrolled/managed mobiledevice 602 with a client agent 604, which interacts with gateway server606 (which includes access gateway and application controllerfunctionality) to access various enterprise resources 608 and services609 such as Exchange, Sharepoint, PKI Resources, Kerberos Resources, andCertificate Issuance Service, as shown on the right hand side above.Although not specifically shown, the mobile device 602 may also interactwith an application store for the selection and downloading ofapplications.

The client agent 604 acts as the UI (user interface) intermediary forWindows apps/desktops hosted in an Enterprise data center, which areaccessed using a display remoting protocol, such as but not limited tothe ICA protocol. The client agent 604 also supports the installationand management of native applications on the mobile device 602, such asnative iOS or Android applications. For example, the managedapplications 610 (mail, browser, wrapped application) shown in thefigure above are all native applications that execute locally on thedevice. Client agent 604 and the application management framework (AMF)of this architecture act to provide policy driven managementcapabilities and features such as connectivity and SSO (single sign on)to enterprise resources/services 608. The client agent 604 handlesprimary user authentication to the enterprise, normally to the accessgateway (AG) with SSO to other gateway server components. The clientagent 604 obtains policies from gateway server 606 to control thebehavior of the AMF managed applications 610 on the mobile device 602.

The secure IPC links 612 between the native applications 610 and clientagent 604 represent a management channel, which allows client agent tosupply policies to be enforced by the application management framework614 “wrapping” each application. The IPC channel 612 also allows clientagent 604 to supply credential and authentication information thatenables connectivity and SSO to enterprise resources 608. Finally theIPC channel 612 allows the application management framework 614 toinvoke user interface functions implemented by client agent 604, such asonline and offline authentication.

Communications between the client agent 604 and gateway server 606 areessentially an extension of the management channel from the applicationmanagement framework 614 wrapping each native managed application 610.The application management framework 614 requests policy informationfrom client agent 604, which in turn requests it from gateway server606. The application management framework 614 requests authentication,and client agent 604 logs into the gateway services part of gatewayserver 606 (also known as NetScaler Access Gateway). Client agent 604may also call supporting services on gateway server 606, which mayproduce input material to derive encryption keys for the local datavaults 616, or provide client certificates which may enable directauthentication to PKI protected resources, as more fully explainedbelow.

In more detail, the application management framework 614 “wraps” eachmanaged application 610. This may be incorporated via an explicit buildstep, or via a post-build processing step. The application managementframework 614 may “pair” with client agent 604 on first launch of anapplication 610 to initialize the secure IPC channel and obtain thepolicy for that application. The application management framework 614may enforce relevant portions of the policy that apply locally, such asthe client agent login dependencies and some of the containment policiesthat restrict how local OS services may be used, or how they mayinteract with the application 610.

The application management framework 614 may use services provided byclient agent 604 over the secure IPC channel 612 to facilitateauthentication and internal network access. Key management for theprivate and shared data vaults 616 (containers) may be also managed byappropriate interactions between the managed applications 610 and clientagent 604. Vaults 616 may be available only after online authentication,or may be made available after offline authentication if allowed bypolicy. First use of vaults 616 may require online authentication, andoffline access may be limited to at most the policy refresh periodbefore online authentication is again required.

Network access to internal resources may occur directly from individualmanaged applications 610 through access gateway 606. The applicationmanagement framework 614 is responsible for orchestrating the networkaccess on behalf of each application 610. Client agent 604 mayfacilitate these network connections by providing suitable time limitedsecondary credentials obtained following online authentication. Multiplemodes of network connection may be used, such as reverse web proxyconnections and end-to-end VPN-style tunnels 618.

The mail and browser managed applications 610 have special status andmay make use of facilities that might not be generally available toarbitrary wrapped applications. For example, the mail application mayuse a special background network access mechanism that allows it toaccess Exchange over an extended period of time without requiring a fullAD logon. The browser application may use multiple private data vaultsto segregate different kinds of data.

This architecture supports the incorporation of various other securityfeatures. For example, gateway server 606 (including its gatewayservices) in some cases will not need to validate AD passwords. It canbe left to the discretion of an enterprise whether an AD password isused as an authentication factor for some users in some situations.Different authentication methods may be used if a user is online oroffline (i.e., connected or not connected to a network).

Step up authentication is a feature wherein gateway server 606 mayidentify managed native applications 610 that are allowed to have accessto highly classified data requiring strong authentication, and ensurethat access to these applications is only permitted after performingappropriate authentication, even if this means a re-authentication isrequired by the user after a prior weaker level of login.

Another security feature of this solution is the encryption of the datavaults 616 (containers) on the mobile device 602. The vaults 616 may beencrypted so that all on-device data including files, databases, andconfigurations are protected. For on-line vaults, the keys may be storedon the server (gateway server 606), and for off-line vaults, a localcopy of the keys may be protected by a user password. When data isstored locally on the device 602 in the secure container 616, it ispreferred that a minimum of AES 256-bit encryption algorithm beutilized.

Other secure container features may also be implemented. For example, alogging feature may be included, wherein all security events happeninginside an application 610 are logged and reported to the backend. Datawiping may be supported, such as if the application 610 detectstampering, associated encryption keys may be written over with randomdata, leaving no hint on the file system that user data was destroyed.Screenshot protection is another feature, where an application mayprevent any data from being stored in screenshots. For example, the keywindow's hidden property may be set to YES. This may cause whatevercontent is currently displayed on the screen to be hidden, resulting ina blank screenshot where any content would normally reside.

Local data transfer may be prevented, such as by preventing any datafrom being locally transferred outside the application container, e.g.,by copying it or sending it to an external application. A keyboard cachefeature may operate to disable the autocorrect functionality forsensitive text fields. SSL certificate validation may be operable so theapplication specifically validates the server SSL certificate instead ofit being stored in the keychain. An encryption key generation featuremay be used such that the key used to encrypt data on the device isgenerated using a passphrase supplied by the user (if offline access isrequired). It may be XORed with another key randomly generated andstored on the server side if offline access is not required. Keyderivation functions may operate such that keys generated from the userpassword use KDFs (key derivation functions, notably PBKDF2) rather thancreating a cryptographic hash of it. The latter makes a key susceptibleto brute force or dictionary attacks.

Further, one or more initialization vectors may be used in encryptionmethods. An initialization vector will cause multiple copies of the sameencrypted data to yield different cipher text output, preventing bothreplay and cryptanalytic attacks. This will also prevent an attackerfrom decrypting any data even with a stolen encryption key if thespecific initialization vector used to encrypt the data is not known.Further, authentication then decryption may be used, wherein applicationdata is decrypted only after the user has authenticated within theapplication. Another feature may relate to sensitive data in memory,which may be kept in memory (and not in disk) only when it's needed. Forexample, login credentials may be wiped from memory after login, andencryption keys and other data inside objective-C instance variables arenot stored, as they may be easily referenced. Instead, memory may bemanually allocated for these.

An inactivity timeout may be implemented, wherein after a policy-definedperiod of inactivity, a user session is terminated.

Data leakage from the application management framework 614 may beprevented in other ways. For example, when an application 610 is put inthe background, the memory may be cleared after a predetermined(configurable) time period. When backgrounded, a snapshot may be takenof the last displayed screen of the application to fasten theforegrounding process. The screenshot may contain confidential data andhence should be cleared.

Another security feature relates to the use of an OTP (one timepassword) 620 without the use of an AD (active directory) 622 passwordfor access to one or more applications. In some cases, some users do notknow (or are not permitted to know) their AD password, so these usersmay authenticate using an OTP 620 such as by using a hardware OTP systemlike SecurID (OTPs may be provided by different vendors also, such asEntrust or Gemalto). In some cases, after a user authenticates with auser ID, a text is sent to the user with an OTP 620. In some cases, thismay be implemented only for online use, with a prompt being a singlefield.

An offline password may be implemented for offline authentication forthose applications 610 for which offline use is permitted via enterprisepolicy. For example, an enterprise may want the enterprise applicationstore to be accessed in this manner. In this case, the client agent 604may require the user to set a custom offline password and the ADpassword is not used. Gateway server 606 may provide policies to controland enforce password standards with respect to the minimum length,character class composition, and age of passwords, such as described bythe standard Windows Server password complexity requirements, althoughthese requirements may be modified.

Another feature relates to the enablement of a client side certificatefor certain applications 610 as secondary credentials (for the purposeof accessing PKI protected web resources via a micro VPN feature). Forexample, an email application may utilize such a certificate. In thiscase, certificate-based authentication using ActiveSync protocol may besupported, wherein a certificate from the client agent 604 may beretrieved by gateway server 606 and used in a keychain. Each managedapplication may have one associated client certificate, identified by alabel that is defined in gateway server 606.

Gateway server 606 may interact with an enterprise special purpose webservice to support the issuance of client certificates to allow relevantmanaged applications to authenticate to internal PKI protectedresources.

The client agent 604 and the application management framework 614 may beenhanced to support obtaining and using client certificates forauthentication to internal PKI protected network resources. More thanone certificate may be supported, such as to match various levels ofsecurity and/or separation requirements. The certificates may be used bythe mail and browser managed applications, and ultimately by arbitrarywrapped applications (provided those applications use web service stylecommunication patterns where it is reasonable for the applicationmanagement framework to mediate HTTPS requests).

Client certificate support on iOS may rely on importing a PKCS 12 BLOB(Binary Large Object) into the iOS keychain in each managed applicationfor each period of use. Client certificate support may use a HTTPSimplementation with private in-memory key storage. The clientcertificate will never be present in the iOS keychain and will not bepersisted except potentially in “online-only” data value that isstrongly protected.

Mutual SSL may also be implemented to provide additional security byrequiring that a mobile device 602 is authenticated to the enterprise,and vice versa. Virtual smart cards for authentication to gateway server606 may also be implemented.

Both limited and full Kerberos support may be additional features. Thefull support feature relates to an ability to do full Kerberos login toAD 622, using an AD password or trusted client certificate, and obtainKerberos service tickets to respond to HTTP negotiate authenticationchallenges. The limited support feature relates to constraineddelegation in AGEE, where AFEE supports invoking Kerberos protocoltransition so it can obtain and use Kerberos service tickets (subject toconstrained delegation) in response to HTTP negotiate authenticationchallenges. This mechanism works in reverse web proxy (a.k.a. CVPN)mode, and when HTTP (but not HTTPS) connections are proxied in VPN andMicroVPN mode.

Another feature relates to application container locking and wiping,which may automatically occur upon jail-break or rooting detections, andoccur as a pushed command from administration console, and may include aremote wipe functionality even when an application 610 is not running.

A multi-site architecture or configuration of the enterprise applicationstore and application controller may be supported that allows users tobe service from one of several different locations in case of failure.

In some cases, managed applications 610 may be allowed to access acertificate and private key via an API (example OpenSSL). Trustedmanaged applications 610 of an enterprise may be allowed to performspecific Public Key operations with an application's client certificateand private key. Various use cases may be identified and treatedaccordingly, such as when an application behaves like a browser and nocertificate access is required, when an application reads a certificatefor “who am I,” when an application uses the certificate to build asecure session token, and when an application uses private keys fordigital signing of important data (e.g. transaction log) or fortemporary data encryption.

Mobile Application Management Features

Having discussed several examples of the computing architecture and theenterprise mobility management architecture that may be used inproviding and/or implementing various aspects of the disclosure, anumber of embodiments will now be discussed in greater detail. Inparticular, and as introduced above, some aspects of the disclosuregenerally relate to providing mobile application managementfunctionalities. In the description below, various examples illustratinghow mobile application management functionalities may be provided inaccordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of initializing amulti-account managed application and selectively enforcing mobileapplication management (MAM) policies to user accounts of themulti-account managed application in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein. In one or more embodiments, themethod of FIG. 7 and/or one or more steps thereof may be performed by acomputing device (e.g., generic computing device 201). In otherembodiments, the method illustrated in FIG. 7 and/or one or more stepsthereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructions that arestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory.

As seen in FIG. 7, the method may begin at step 705 in which a mobiledevice may initialize a multi-account managed application. For example,in step 705, a mobile device may initialize the multi-account managedapplication by initializing one or more of a first managed user accountand a second managed user account for the same user. In some instances,the mobile device may initialize an unmanaged user account for the sameuser. In such instances, the multi-account managed application may bereferred to as a partially managed application.

In some embodiments, in an application where a user has three useraccounts (e.g., two managed user accounts and one unmanaged useraccount), the mobile device may initiate a request for enrollment withone or more mobile application management service providers (e.g., afirst MAM service provider and a second MAM service provider). Therequest may include an indication of which user account the user wishesto be subject to policies set by the MAM service providers. Each MAMservice provider may determine whether to grant enrollment and may, inturn, send MAM policies in, for example, a policy-enforcement profile orcertificate to the mobile device. The policy enforcement profile may bespecific to a particular user account of the application and configuredto facilitate enforcement of policies on the particular user account.For example, the mobile device may enroll a first user account of theapplication with a first MAM service provider so that the first useraccount is subject a first set of MAM policies provided by the first MAMservice provider. Such a first user account may now be referred to as afirst managed user account of a multi-account managed application and/ora partially managed application. Similarly, the mobile device may enrolla second user account of the application with a second MAM serviceprovider so that the second user account is subject to a second set ofMAM policies provided by the second MAM service provider. Such a seconduser account may be referred to as a second managed user account of themulti-account managed application and/or the partially managedapplication. The mobile device may determine not to request enrollmentwith a MAM service provider for a third user account. Thus, the thirduser account might not be subject to any set of MAM policies. Such auser account may be referred to as an unmanaged user account of thepartially managed application. As a result, the mobile device mayconcurrently manage the first managed user account in accordance withthe first set of MAM policies and the second managed user account inaccordance with the second set of MAM policies while refraining frommanaging the unmanaged user account (e.g., by not subjecting theunmanaged user account to the first set of MAM policies and/or thesecond set of MAM policies). In some embodiments, the user accounts mayspecific to a role or position of a corporation rather than specific tothe user. In some embodiments, the first and second MAM serviceproviders may be the same MAM service provider. In some embodiments, thefirst and second MAM service providers may be different MAM serviceproviders.

In some embodiments, the application may be wrapped in a secureapplication wrapper (e.g., by an application store, by one or moreenterprise services, and/or by the mobile device itself) such that theapplication is now a multi-managed application and/or a partiallymanaged application. The secure application wrapper running on themobile device may enforce policies for each MAM service provider on arespective managed user account. For example, the mobile device mayenforce, via the secure application wrapper, the first set of MAMpolicies on the first managed user account and the second set of MAMpolicies on the second managed user account. Particularly, the secureapplication wrapper may obtain and monitor state information of themulti-managed application (e.g., the partially managed application)and/or the mobile device. The state information may include, forexample, which user account is currently in focus, which user iscurrently logged into the mobile device or the application, what tasksare currently being executed, whether the task is being executed in aforeground context or a background context of the mobile device, thegeographic location of the mobile device, whether the mobile device iswithin a geofence of the MAM service provider, whether the mobile devicehas established a network connection with the MAM service provider,and/or any other information.

In some embodiments, the secure application wrapper running on themobile device may determine what policies to enforce on a given taskassociated with a user account. Specifically, the secure applicationwrapper may enforce the first set of MAM policies based on the monitoredstate information of the partially managed application (e.g., based onwhich user account is currently in focus) and/or the mobile device.Similarly, the secure application wrapper may enforce the second set ofMAM policies based on the monitored state information of the mobiledevice. The secure application wrapper may detect a change in stateinformation of the partially managed application and/or the mobiledevice. For example, the secure application wrapper may detect that thefirst managed user account is currently in focus. In response, thesecure application wrapper may apply the first set of MAM policies onany first managed task executed by the mobile device in association withthe first managed user account. In some embodiments, the secureapplication wrapper may send the change in state information and/orother state information to the first MAM service provider for remoteprocessing and, in return, may receive processed state information ofthe partially managed application and/or the mobile device. The mobiledevice, via the secure application wrapper, may then enforce the firstset of MAM policies in conjunction with the processed state information.In some embodiments, the mobile device may wrap the application with asecond secure application wrapper to enforce the second set of MAMpolicies.

In step 710, the mobile device may execute one or more first managedtasks associated with the first managed user account in accordance withthe first set of MAM policies provided by the first MAM serviceprovider. For example, in step 710, the mobile device (and/or the secureapplication wrapper running on the mobile device) may apply somepolicies (e.g., rules) that may result in behavior limitations and/orbehavior enhancements associated with the first managed user account.Particularly, the first set of MAM policies may be applied to the firstmanaged tasks. The first managed tasks may include one or more tasksconfigured to be executed in a foreground context and one or more tasksexecuted in a background context of the multi-account managedapplication. The first managed tasks may be any operation performed inrelation to or on behalf of the first managed user account of the user.For example, one or more of the first managed tasks may includeperforming an operation on first managed user account data (e.g., a cutand paste operation, a text-editing or other content-editing operation,etc.), sending and/or receiving a communication to another device orsoftware engine local to the mobile device, accessing resourcesassociated with the first managed user account (e.g., first managed useraccount data), and/or otherwise processing the first managed useraccount data, one or more commands, and/or any other tasks.

The mobile device may execute the one or more first managed tasksindependent of the second set of MAM policies provided by the second MAMservice provider. In particular, the mobile device may execute the firstmanaged tasks regardless of the policies provided by the second MAMservice provider and/or other MAM service providers (which may, e.g.,include executing the first managed tasks in accordance with the firstset of MAM policies without subjecting such tasks to the policiesprovided by the second MAM service provider or any other MAM serviceproviders, even if the mobile device is concurrently executing and/orotherwise executing one or more other tasks that are subject to thesecond set of MAM policies). In other words, the second set of MAMpolicies and/or other MAM policies might have no effect (e.g. a nullity)on the one or more first managed tasks. In some embodiments, even if oneor more of the second set of policies are directed to managing the firstmanaged user account and/or otherwise conflict with the first managedtasks, the secure application wrapper and/or the mobile device mayignore and/or otherwise not enforce these policies with respect to thefirst managed user account. As a result, the mobile device may executethe first managed tasks despite the second set of MAM policies. In anexemplary embodiment, the mobile device may execute the one or morefirst managed tasks in the background even if the user context switches(e.g., from the first managed user account to the second managed useraccount) such that the mobile device executes one or more second managedtasks in accordance with the second set of MAM policies.

In step 715, the mobile device may execute one or more second managedtasks associated with the second managed user account in accordance withthe second set of MAM policies provided by the second MAM serviceprovider. For example, in step 715, the mobile device (and/or the secureapplication wrapper running on the mobile device) may apply policies(e.g., rules) that may result in behavior limitations and/or behaviorenhancements associated with the second managed user account.Particularly, the second set of MAM policies may be applied to thesecond managed tasks. The second managed tasks may include one or moretasks configured to be executed in a foreground context and one or moretasks configured to be executed in a background context of themulti-account managed application. The second managed tasks may be anyoperation performed in relation to or on behalf of the second manageduser account of the user. For example, one or more of the second managedtasks may include performing an operation on second managed user accountdata (e.g., a cut and paste operation, a text-editing or othercontent-editing operation, etc.), sending and/or receiving acommunication to another device or software engine local to the mobiledevice, accessing resources associated with the second managed useraccount (e.g., second managed user account data), and/or otherwiseprocessing of the second managed user account data, one or morecommands, and/or any other tasks.

The mobile device may execute the one or more second managed tasksindependent of the first set of MAM policies provided by the first MAMservice provider. In particular, the mobile device may execute thesecond managed tasks regardless of the policies provided by the firstMAM service provider and/or other MAM service providers (which may,e.g., include executing the second managed tasks in accordance with thesecond set of MAM policies without subjecting such tasks to the policiesprovided by the first MAM service provider or any other MAM serviceproviders, even if the mobile device is concurrently executing and/orotherwise executing one or more other tasks that are subject to thefirst set of MAM policies). In other words, the first set of MAMpolicies and/or other MAM policies have no effect (e.g. a nullity) onthe one or more second managed tasks. In some embodiments, even if oneor more of the first set of policies are directed to managing the secondmanaged user account and/or otherwise conflict with the second managedtasks, the secure application wrapper and/or the mobile device mayignore and/or otherwise not enforce these policies with respect to thesecond managed user account. As a result, the mobile device may executethe second managed tasks despite the first set of MAM policies. In anexemplary embodiment, the mobile device may execute the one or moresecond managed tasks in the background even if the user context switches(e.g., from the second managed user account to the first managed useraccount) such that the mobile device executes one or more of the firstmanaged tasks in accordance with the first set of MAM policies.

In some embodiments, the second managed user account may be differentfrom the first managed user account. The second set of MAM policies maybe different from the first set of MAM policies and the second MAMservice provider may be different from the first MAM service provider.The one or more second managed tasks may be different from the one ormore first managed tasks. For example, the first managed user accountmay be used by a user when he/she is at one worksite for oneorganization, while the second managed user account may be used by thesame user when he/she is at a different worksite for a differentorganization. In an exemplary embodiment, a doctor may have anapplication on his mobile device. The application may be associated withtwo managed accounts of the doctor, one account for a first hospital anda different account for a second hospital. When the doctor is at thefirst hospital, the mobile device may permit the doctor to interact withthe account for the first hospital and may concurrently execute tasks ofthe account for the second hospital in the background. Similarly, whenthe doctor is at the second hospital, the mobile device may permit thedoctor to interact with the account for the second hospital and mayconcurrently execute tasks of the account for the first hospital in thebackground.

In step 720, the mobile device may execute one or more unmanaged tasksassociated with the unmanaged user account (e.g., a personal account)independent of the MAM policies. For example, in step 720, the mobiledevice may execute one or more unmanaged tasks associated with theunmanaged user account independent of the first set of MAM policiesprovided by the first MAM service provider and independent of the secondset of MAM policies provided by the second MAM service provider.Particularly, the mobile device may execute the one or more unmanagedtasks regardless of the first set of policies provided by the first MAMservice provider, the second set of policies provided by the second MAMservice provider, and/or other MAM service providers (which may e.g.,include executing the unmanaged tasks without subjecting such tasks tothe policies of the first MAM service provider, the policies of the ofthe second MAM service provider or any other MAM service providers, evenif the mobile device is concurrently executing and/or otherwiseexecuting one or more other tasks that are subject to either the firstset of MAM policies, the second set of MAM policies or any other MAMpolicies). In other words, the MAM policies may have no effect (e.g. anullity) on the one or more unmanaged tasks. In some embodiments, evenif one or more of the MAM policies are directed to managing theunmanaged user account and/or otherwise conflict with the one or moreunmanaged tasks, the secure application wrapper and/or the mobile devicemay ignore and/or otherwise not enforce these policies with respect tothe unmanaged user account. As a result, the mobile device may executethe unmanaged tasks despite any MAM policies. In an exemplaryembodiment, the mobile device may execute the one or more unmanagedtasks in the background even if the user context switches (e.g., fromthe unmanaged user account to one of the first managed user account andthe second managed user account) such that the mobile device executesone or more of the first managed tasks and/or one or more of the secondmanaged tasks in accordance with the respective set of MAM policies.

In some embodiments, in executing the first managed tasks in accordancewith the first set of MAM policies in step 710, the first set of MAMpolicies may include one or more MAM policies set by the first MAMservice provider (e.g., an organization the user works with). Similarly,in executing the second managed tasks in accordance with the second setof MAM policies set by the second MAM service provider (e.g., anotherdifferent organization the user works with). The MAM policies includedin one or more of the first set of MAM policies and the second set ofMAM policies to be applied respectively to the first managed tasks andthe second managed tasks may include, for example, various enforcementMAM policies. For example, a MAM policy may selectively enable anddisable functionality within the multi-account managed application.Particularly, the first MAM policy may prevent acknowledgement and/orimplementation of: one or more user input actions supported by themulti-account managed application, one or more processing/analyzingactions supported by the multi-account managed application, and/or oneor more output actions supported by the multi-account managedapplication.

In some embodiments, for example, a MAM policy may preventimplementation of one or more user input actions received by the mobiledevice. A policy may prevent the mobile device from modifying settingsof a managed account, modifying displayed managed account information(e.g., read-only) of the managed account, or the like. For example, theMAM policy may be a cut, copy, and/or paste restriction that preventsthe mobile device from cutting or copying the first managed user accountdata and/or pasting such first managed user account data.

In some embodiments, for example, a MAM policy may cause the mobiledevice to prevent processing and/or analyzing actions and/or initiateactions. For example, the mobile device may disable functionalityassociated with the prevented inputs described above and/or may preventspecific background processing in certain circumstances. For example, aMAM policy may be a selective wipe policy that when enforced by themobile device may delete and/or otherwise remove managed account datafrom the mobile device. In some instances, the mobile device may sendsuch managed account data to the MAM service provider. In suchinstances, the mobile device may maintain and not delete any dataoutside of the managed account data (e.g., other managed account dataassociated with the another managed account, unmanaged user account dataassociated with the unmanaged user account, personal data, and/or otherdata).

In some embodiments, for example, a MAM policy may cause the mobiledevice to prevent implementation of one or more output actions by themobile device such as displaying one or more items of information and/orcommunicating to one or more devices. For example, a MAM policy mayprevent the mobile device from displaying information outside of themanaged account information when the managed user account is currentlyin focus. For example, a MAM policy of the first set of MAM policies mayprevent the mobile device from displaying second managed user accountinformation associated with the second managed user account and/orunmanaged user account information associated with the unmanaged useraccount when the first managed user account is currently in focus. Forexample, a MAM policy may prevent the mobile device from displayinginformation of other applications. For example, the policy may preventthe mobile device from displaying some particular managed accountinformation while displaying other particular managed accountinformation from the same managed account. In some embodiments, a firstMAM policy may prevent the mobile device from sending information (e.g.,first managed user account information) to and/or receive informationfrom one or more other devices. For example, data associated with afirst managed user account may be interacted with by the user of themobile device when the first managed user account is currently in focus.In such an example, a second managed account might not be interactedwith by the user until the second managed user account is currently infocus. A user account may be in focus when, for example, that useraccount is selected by the user. In some embodiments, a MAM policy mayaffect applications in addition to the multi-account managed application(e.g., a partially managed application) present at the mobile device.For example, a MAM policy may prevent another application from beingopened or otherwise executed and may close the application if it iscurrently being executed (e.g., running) at the mobile device.

In some embodiments, another first MAM policy may permit access to somenetwork resources while not other network resources. For example, apolicy may prevent the mobile device from accessing one or more networkresources by, for example, blocking access to certain websites,particular enterprise resources, and/or any other remotely locatedresources.

In some embodiments, another first MAM policy may selectively enableand/or disable functionality within other software and/or hardware ofthe mobile device. For example, a policy may prevent or block access toresources of the mobile device such as, for example, camerafunctionality, text message functionality, Bluetooth functionality,local application functionality, and/or any other functionality of themobile device.

In some embodiments, the secure application wrapper running on themobile device may generate and execute commands to enforce policies. Thesecure application wrapper may generate the commands based on stateinformation of the mobile device monitored by the secure applicationwrapper. For example, the secure application wrapper may detect a changein the state information of the mobile device and, as a result, mayanalyze the state information for compliance with the policies. Themobile device may execute operations to prevent violations of one ormore policies and/or fix or otherwise remedy violations in policiesdetected by the secure application wrapper. For example, a command mayadd, delete, and/or modify data of the mobile device. For example, thecommand may be configured to perform a selective wipe operation at themobile device. Particularly, when such a command is executed, the mobiledevice may delete data associated with one or more of the managedaccounts (e.g., the first managed user account and/or the second manageduser account). For example, the command may be configured to reconfigurefunctionality (e.g., selectively enabling and/or disablingfunctionality) of the multi-account managed application, other softwarepresent on the mobile device, and/or other functionality of the mobiledevice.

In some embodiments, the MAM service provider may generate the commands.Particularly, the secure application wrapper may send to the MAM serviceprovider state information, change in state information, and/or anindication of a MAM policy potentially violated or may soon be violated,and/or any other information. The MAM service provider may analyze thestate information and one or more policies and, based on the analysis,generate commands to enforce the policies. The MAM service provider maysend the commands to the mobile device. The secure application wrappermay execute the commands and, in response, may send to the MAM serviceprovider updated state information and/or an indication that anoperation associated with the received command was completed.

In some embodiments, if the secure application wrapper and/or the MAMservice provider detects violations in policies. The secure applicationwrapper and/or the MAM service provider may generate commands to fix thepolicy violations.

In some embodiments, each account may be associated with a differentuser. For instance, the first managed user account may be associatedwith a first user and the second managed user account may be associatedwith a second user different from the first user. As a result, the samemobile device may be shared by multiple users. For example, a hospitalmay include one or more nurse stations that may include one or moreshared mobile devices to be shared by multiple nurses. A first nurse maybe associated with the first managed user account and a second nurse maybe associated with the second managed user account. In this instance,the first MAM service provider and the second MAM service provider arethe same entity, namely the hospital. However, the MAM service provider(e.g., the first and second MAM service provider) may provide differentMAM policies for each of the managed user accounts. As a result, thefirst managed user account of the first nurse may be subject todifferent policies than that of the second managed user account of thesecond nurse. In some embodiments, both the first and second manageduser accounts may be active or in focus at the same time. Additionallyor alternatively, only one user account may be active or in focus at anygiven time. The secure application wrapper may determine which accountis in focus or active based on the user who has logged into theapplication and/or mobile device. In some embodiments, data associatedwith each user account may be stored in separate data vaults specific toeach user account.

In one some embodiments, a shared mobile device may have one or moreaccounts for a user and one or more accounts for another user. Forexample, a first managed user account and a second managed user accountmay be associated with a first nurse and a third managed user accountand a fourth managed user account may be associated with a second nurse.The first and third managed user accounts may be associated with MAMpolicies set by a first hospital. Similarly, the second and fourthmanaged user accounts may be associated with MAM policies set by asecond hospital different from the first hospital.

Typically, an application can only be managed by MAM service providersin one context. For example, either the entire application (includingevery user account associated with the application) is managed accordingto MAM policies provided by a MAM service provider or none of theapplication (e.g., no part of the application including none of the useraccounts) is managed according to the MAM policies provided by the MAMservice provider. Additionally, the application might not be able to bemanaged in accordance with first MAM policies provided by first MAMservice provider while the application is being managed by second MAMpolicies provided by a second MAM service provider. Typically, accountdata and policies may be wiped in order to switch from an applicationmanaged according to first MAM policies to an application managed bysecond MAM policies. Based on the method depicted in FIG. 5 describedabove, the mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper runningon the mobile device) may implement the context at a task level. As aresult, the secure application wrapper may tag each task within theapplication with an account context thereby facilitating management ofthe application at a much finer granularity than the application as awhole, namely the application may be managed on a per user accountbasis. Particularly, because the secure application wrapper may tag eachthread with the user account context and because multiple threads may beprocessed in parallel (i.e., parallel processing), the MAM policiesassociated with each tag may be enforced upon each thread (e.g., task)in parallel or substantially in parallel.

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of executing a taskwhile preventing a semantically equivalent task in accordance with oneor more illustrative aspects discussed herein. In one or moreembodiments, the method of FIG. 8 and/or one or more steps thereof maybe performed by a computing device (e.g., generic computing device 201).In other embodiments, the method illustrated in FIG. 8 and/or one ormore steps thereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructionsthat are stored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory.

As seen in FIG. 8, the method may begin at step 805 in which a mobiledevice may execute one or more tasks independent of a set of MAMpolicies provided by a MAM service provider. For example, in step 805, amobile device may execute a particular unmanaged task of one or moreunmanaged tasks associated with an unmanaged user account of a partiallymanaged application. The unmanaged tasks may be one or more tasksexecuted by the mobile device without being subject to one or more MAMpolicies. The unmanaged user account may be an account that can be usedwith the application without being subject to one or more MAM policies.Specifically, the mobile device may execute the particular unmanagedtask independent of a first set of MAM policies set by a first MAMservice provider associated with a first managed user account of thepartially managed application. In executing the unmanaged taskindependent of a set of MAM policies, the mobile device may, forexample, perform an operation on data associated with the unmanaged useraccount even if a MAM policy would prohibit such an operation. Forinstance, in executing an unmanaged cut and paste task independent ofone or more policies, the mobile device may perform a cut and pasteoperation on text associated with the unmanaged account even if thefirst MAM policy prohibits cut and paste operations on text associatedwith a first managed user account. In other words, the mobile device mayexecute the cut and paste operation on text associated with theunmanaged user account without enforcing any of the MAM policiesincluded in the first set of MAM policies. Similarly, the mobile devicemay execute the particular unmanaged task independent of a second set ofMAM policies set by a second MAM service provider associated with asecond managed user account of the partially managed application. Inexecuting the unmanaged task independent of the second set of MAMpolicies, the mobile device may, for example, perform a cut and pasteoperation on text associated with the unmanaged user account even if asecond MAM policy prohibits cut and paste operations on text associatedwith a second managed user account. In other words, the mobile devicemay execute the cut and paste operation on text associated with theunmanaged user account without enforcing any the MAM policies includedin the second set of MAM policies.

The unmanaged task being executed in step 805 may be semanticallyequivalent to a particular first managed task of one of more firstmanaged tasks associated with the first managed user account. Inparticular, an unmanaged task may be considered “semanticallyequivalent” to a managed task when the operation performed with respectto the unmanaged user account is the same operation performed withrespect to the managed user account. For example, a cut and paste taskon text associated with unmanaged user account is semanticallyequivalent to a cut and paste task on text associated with a manageduser account. The mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapperrunning on the mobile device) may monitor and determine whether thefirst managed task, if executed by the mobile device, would violate thefirst set of MAM policies. The mobile device may make this determinationprior to executing the first managed task.

In response, in step 810, the mobile device (and/or the secureapplication wrapper) may prevent execution of the first managed task(which is semantically equivalent to unmanaged task). For example, instep 810, the mobile device may prevent the first managed task of theone or more first managed tasks from being executed when the firstmanaged task if executed would violate the first set of MAM policies.

For example, the unmanaged task being executed in step 805 may be a cutand paste operation associated with the unmanaged user account. The cutand paste operation may be configured to remove and insert text intounmanaged user account data displayed at the mobile device. The firstmanaged task may also be a cut and paste operation configured to removeand insert text into first managed user account data displayed at themobile device. Because both the unmanaged task and the first managedtask are a cut and paste operation, the unmanaged task and the firstmanaged task are semantically equivalent to one another. A MAM policywithin the first set of MAM policies may prohibit such cut and pasteoperations. However, because the mobile device executes the unmanagedtask (e.g., the cut and paste operation on text associated with theunmanaged user account) independent of the first set of MAM policies,the MAM policy prohibiting the cut and paste operation has no effect onthe execution of the unmanaged task. Thus, the mobile device may executethe cut and paste operation on text associated with the particularunmanaged user account despite the prohibition of the cut and pasteoperation by the MAM policy. On the other hand, the mobile device mayprevent execution of the cut and paste operation associated with thefirst managed task (e.g., the cut and paste operation on text associatedwith the first managed user account) based on the MAM policy configuredto prohibit the cut and paste operation. As a result, the mobile devicemay perform the unmanaged task (e.g., the cut and paste operation ontext associated with the unmanaged user account) while preventingperformance of the first managed task (e.g., the cut and paste operationon text associated with the first managed user account).

Similarly, the unmanaged task (e.g., the cut and paste operation on textassociated with the unmanaged user account) may be semanticallyequivalent to a second managed task associated with the second manageduser account (e.g., a cut and paste operation on text associated withthe second managed user account). The mobile device may execute theparticular unmanaged task independent of a second set of MAM policiesprovided by a MAM service provider. The mobile device may execute theparticular second managed task in accordance with the second set of MAMpolicies. The mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapperrunning on the mobile device) may monitor and determine whether theparticular second managed task, if executed by the mobile device, wouldviolate the second set of MAM policies. In response to a determinationthat the second managed task would violate a MAM policy of the secondset of MAM policies (e.g., a MAM policy configured to prevent cut andpaste operations), the mobile device may prevent execution of the secondmanaged task. As a result, the mobile device may execute the cut andpaste operation on text associated with the unmanaged user account andthe mobile device may prevent execution of the cut and paste operationon text associated with the second managed user account.

In step 815, the mobile device may execute another first managed task inaccordance with the first set of MAM policies (also referred to hereinas a specific first managed task). The specific first managed task maybe, for example, a copy operation on text associated with the firstmanaged user account. The mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may monitor and determine whether execution of the specificfirst managed task would violate a MAM policy of the first set of MAMpolicies. In this example, because the first set of MAM policies permitsthe specific first managed task (e.g., the copy operation on textassociated with the first managed user account), the mobile device mayexecute the specific first managed task.

The specific first managed task may be semantically equivalent toanother second managed task (also referred to herein as a specificsecond managed task). The specific second managed task may be, forexample, a copy operation on text associated with the second manageduser account. The mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper)may monitor and determine whether execution of the specific secondmanaged task would violate a MAM policy of the second set of MAMpolicies.

In response, in step 820, the mobile device (and/or the secureapplication wrapper) may prevent execution of the specific secondmanaged task. For example, in step 820, the mobile device may preventthe specific second managed task of the one or more second managed tasksfrom being executed when the specific second managed task if executedwould violate the second set of MAM policies. For example, the mobiledevice may execute the copy operation on text associated with the firstmanaged user account and the mobile device may prevent execution of thecopy operation on text associated with second managed user account. Insome embodiments, the mobile device may execute a copy operation on textassociated with the unmanaged user account because the mobile device mayexecute one or more unmanaged tasks independent of the first set of MAMpolicies and independent of the second set of MAM policies.

FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of switchingbetween managed tasks and unmanaged tasks based on which user account ofa partially managed application is in focus in accordance with one ormore illustrative aspects discussed herein. In one or more embodiments,the method of FIG. 9 and/or one or more steps thereof may be performedby a computing device (e.g., generic computing device 201). In otherembodiments, the method illustrated in FIG. 9 and/or one or more stepsthereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructions that arestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory.

As seen in FIG. 9, the method may begin at step 905 in which a mobiledevice may begin executing one or more tasks (e.g., one or moreunmanaged tasks and one or more first managed tasks). For example, instep 905, the mobile device may begin executing one or more unmanagedtasks in a foreground context of the partially managed application andexecuting one or more first managed tasks in a background context of thepartially managed application. The one or more tasks that the mobiledevice is executing in the foreground context may, for instance,interact with data that is currently being displayed or otherwisepresented by the mobile device via one or more user interfaces, whereasthe one or more tasks that the mobile device is executing in thebackground context may, for instance, interact with data that is notcurrently being displayed or otherwise presented by the mobile devicevia one or more user interfaces. For instance, the foreground contextmay be a context in which a user of the mobile device may interact withthe user account currently presented by the mobile device. For example,the mobile device may display information associated with the unmanageduser account when the one or more unmanaged tasks are being executed inthe foreground context. For example, an account is in the foregroundcontext when the account is selected by a user at the mobile device. Inan instance where the mobile device presents multiple accounts each in adifferent window, the single active window is the foreground contexteven if other windows are concurrently displayed by the mobile device.Additionally or alternatively, the mobile device may receive user inputfrom the user associated with the unmanaged user account. In response,the mobile device may execute commands and/or operations associated withthe unmanaged user account. The background context may be a context inwhich a user of the mobile device might not be able to interact with theaccount currently in the background context. For example, the mobiledevice may synchronize locally-stored data of first managed user accountwith remotely-stored data (e.g., data stored in a cloud computingarchitecture) in the background context. The mobile device might notdisplay such data of the first managed user account because the sync isbeing executed within the background context.

In step 910, the mobile device may determine which user account iscurrently in focus. For example, in step 910, after the mobile devicehas begun executing the one or more unmanaged tasks in the foregroundcontext, the mobile device may determine that the first managed useraccount is currently in focus. The first managed user account may beconsidered currently in focus when the mobile device determines thatthere is some indication that the user may, in the near future (e.g.,within a predetermined amount of time), interact with the first manageduser account in a foreground context (e.g., the mobile device maydisplay information of the first managed user account and receive inputfrom the user regarding the first managed user account).

For example, the mobile device may determine that the first managed useraccount is currently in focus based on user input (e.g., the user inputmay be a request to login to the first managed user account received bythe mobile device from the user). For example, the mobile device maydetermine that the first managed user account is currently in focusbased on an indication that the mobile device is within a geographicalfence (also referred to herein as a geofence) of a first MAM serviceprovider. Particularly, the first MAM service provider (e.g., acorporation or other entity) may set a geofence (e.g., a perimeterdefined by, for example, geographic location). The geofence may beassociated with the location of a building or campus of the first MAMservice provider and/or the home of the user. The mobile device (and/orthe secure application wrapper) may monitor state information of themobile device including the global positioning system (GPS) location ofthe mobile device. The mobile device may determine from the monitoredstate information that the mobile device is currently within thegeofence and, in response, may automatically indicate/determine that thefirst managed user account is currently in focus. For example, themobile device may determine that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus based on an indication that the mobile device hasestablished a network connection with the first MAM service provider.Particularly, the mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper)may determine based on the monitored state information that the mobiledevice has connected to the intranet or other network of the entity and,in response, may determine that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus. Additionally or alternatively, for example, themobile device may determine that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus based on a command received by the mobile devicerequesting the mobile device to move the one or more first managed tasksto the foreground context. Particularly, the first MAM service provider(e.g., the entity) may determine that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus and, in response, may send a command to the mobiledevice indicating that the first managed user account is currently infocus.

In step 915, the mobile device may move unmanaged tasks from theforeground context to the background context. For example, in responseto determining in step 910 that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus, the mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may, in step 915, initiate movement of execution of the one ormore unmanaged tasks to the background context. Once moved, the user ofthe mobile device might no longer be able to interact with the unmanagedtasks and/or the unmanaged user account.

In step 920, the mobile device may move first managed tasks from thebackground context to the foreground context. For example, in responseto determining in step 910 that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus, the mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may, in step 920, initiate movement of execution of the one ormore first managed tasks to the foreground context for execution. Oncemoved, the user of the mobile device may be able to interact with thefirst managed tasks and/or the first managed user account. For example,the mobile device may display first managed information of the firstmanaged user account when the one or more first managed tasks is withinthe foreground context. The mobile device may also continue execution ofthe one or more first managed tasks. For example, one or more of thefirst managed tasks may include syncing the first managed informationwith the first MAM service provider. The mobile device may have begunthe syncing in the background context of the partially managedapplication. Once moved to the foreground context, the mobile device maycontinue execution of the syncing of the first managed information withthe first MAM service provider.

In step 925, the mobile device may continue execution of the unmanagedtasks in the background context of the partially managed application.For example, in step 925, during the displaying of the first managedinformation by the mobile device, the mobile device may continueexecution of the one or more unmanaged tasks in the background contextindependent of the first set of MAM policies. For example, one or moreof the unmanaged tasks may be a sync operation to sync unmanaged useraccount information with an unmanaged service provider. The mobiledevice may begin execution of the sync operation in the foregroundcontext of the partially managed application when, for example, theunmanaged user account is currently in focus.

In executing one or more tasks of an account independent of one or moreparticular sets of MAM policies provided by one or more MAM serviceproviders as described herein, the mobile device (and/or the secureapplication wrapper running on the mobile device) may block enforcementof the one or more particular sets of MAM policies on the user accountsindependent of the one or more particular sets of MAM policies. Forexample, the mobile device may block enforcement of the first set of MAMpolices on the one or more unmanaged tasks. In blocking the enforcement,the mobile device may override the first set of MAM policies when thefirst set of MAM policies apply to the one or more unmanaged tasks.

After step 925, the method may return to step 910 where the mobiledevice may again determine which user account is currently in focus. Ifthe first managed user account is still currently in focus, steps915-925 may be repeated. Alternatively, if the unmanaged user account isnow currently in focus or if in the first instance of doing thedetermining of step 910 the unmanaged user account was in focus, themethod may proceed to step 930 in which the first managed tasks may bemoved to the background context.

In particular, in step 930, the mobile device may move the first managedtasks from the foreground context to the background context of thepartially managed application. For example, in step 930, in response todetermining that the unmanaged user account is currently in focus, themobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper) may initiatemovement of execution of the one or more first managed tasks from theforeground context to the background context. Once moved, the user ofthe mobile device might no longer be able to interact with the one ormore first managed tasks and/or the first managed user account.

In some embodiments, the mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may initiate and move execution of the one or more firstmanaged tasks from the foreground context to the background context forother reasons. For example, the mobile device may move execution of theone or more first managed tasks in response to user input, an indicationthat the mobile device is outside of the geofence set by the first MAMservice provider, a command received from the first MAM service providerrequesting the mobile device to move the first managed tasks to thebackground context, an indication that the mobile device no longer has anetwork connection with the first MAM service provider, an indicationthat another account different from the first managed user account iscurrently in focus, an indication that the first managed user account isnot currently in focus, and/or other monitored state information of thepartially managed application and/or the mobile device.

In step 935, the mobile device may move the unmanaged tasks from thebackground context to the foreground context. For example, in step 935,in response to determining that the unmanaged user account is currentlyin focus, the mobile device may initiate movement of execution of theone or more unmanaged tasks from the background context to theforeground context for execution. Once moved, the user of the mobiledevice may interact with the unmanaged tasks and/or the unmanaged useraccount. For example, the mobile device may display unmanagedinformation of the unmanaged user account when the one or more unmanagedtasks are within the foreground context. The mobile device may alsocontinue execution of the one or more unmanaged tasks in the foregroundcontext independent of the first set of MAM policies. For example, oneor more of the unmanaged tasks may include syncing the unmanagedinformation with the unmanaged service provider. The mobile device mayhave begun the syncing in the background context of the partiallymanaged application. Once moved to the foreground context, the mobiledevice may continue execution of the syncing of the unmanagedinformation with the unmanaged service provider. In some embodiments,the mobile device may block enforcement of the first set of MAM policeson the one or more unmanaged tasks. In blocking the enforcement, themobile device may override the first set of MAM policies when the firstset of MAM policies apply to the one or more unmanaged tasks.

In step 940, the mobile device may continue execution of the one or morefirst managed tasks in the background context of the partially managedapplication. For example, in step 940, during the continuing executionof the unmanaged tasks (e.g., during the displaying of the unmanagedinformation) by the mobile device, the mobile device may continueexecuting the one or more first managed tasks in the background contextin accordance with the first set of MAM policies. For example, one ormore of the first managed tasks may be a sync operation to sync firstmanaged user account information with the first MAM service provider.The mobile device may begin execution of the sync operation (i.e., afirst managed task) in the foreground context of the partially managedapplication when, for example, the first managed user account iscurrently in focus and continue execution in the background when eitherthe unmanaged user account is in focus and/or when the first manageduser account is not currently in focus.

In some embodiments, the mobile device may begin execution of the one ormore first managed tasks in the foreground context. In some embodiments,the mobile device may begin execution of the one or more first managedtasks and the one or more unmanaged tasks in the foreground context.

After step 940, the method may return to step 910 where the mobiledevice may again determine which user account is currently in focus. Ifthe first managed user account is currently in focus, steps 915-925 maybe repeated. Alternatively, if the unmanaged user account is currentlyin focus, steps 930-940 may be repeated.

FIG. 10 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of switchingbetween first managed tasks and second managed tasks based on whichaccount of a multi-account managed application is in focus in accordancewith one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein. In one or moreembodiments, the method of FIG. 10 and/or one or more steps thereof maybe performed by a computing device (e.g., generic computing device 201).In other embodiments, the method illustrated in FIG. 10 and/or one ormore steps thereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructionsthat are stored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory.

As seen in FIG. 10, the method may begin at step 1005 in which a mobiledevice may begin executing one or more tasks (e.g., one or more firstmanaged tasks and one or more second managed tasks). For example, instep 1005, the mobile device may begin executing one or more firstmanaged tasks in a foreground context of the multi-account managedapplication and executing one or more second managed tasks in abackground context of the multi-account managed application. The one ormore tasks that the mobile device is executing in the foreground contextmay, for instance, interact with data that is currently being displayedor otherwise presented by the mobile device via one or more userinterfaces, whereas the one or more tasks that the mobile device isexecuting in the background context may, for instance, interact withdata that is not currently being displayed or otherwise presented by themobile device via one or more user interfaces. For instance, theforeground context may be a context in which a user of the mobile devicemay interact with the user account currently presented by the mobiledevice. For example, the mobile device may display informationassociated with the first managed user account when the one or morefirst managed tasks are being executed in the foreground context.Additionally or alternatively, the mobile device may receive user inputfrom the user associated with the first managed user account. Inresponse, the mobile device may execute commands and/or operationsassociated with the first managed user account. The background contextmay be a context in which a user of the mobile device might not be ableto interact with the account currently in the background context. Forexample, the mobile device may synchronize locally-stored data of thesecond managed user account with remotely stored-data in the backgroundcontext. The mobile device might not be able to display such data of thesecond managed user account because the sync is being executed withinthe background context.

In step 1010, the mobile device may determine which account is currentlyin focus. For example, in step 1010, after the mobile device has begunexecuting the one or more first managed tasks in the foreground context,the mobile device may determine that the second managed user account iscurrently in focus. The second managed user account may be consideredcurrently in focus when the mobile device determines that there is someindication that the user may, in the near future (e.g., within apredetermined period of time), interact with the second managed useraccount in a foreground context (e.g., the mobile device may displaysecond managed user account information and receive input from the userregarding the second managed user account).

For example, the mobile device may determine that the second manageduser account is currently in focus based on user input (e.g., the userinput may be a request to login to the second managed user accountreceived by the mobile device from the user). For example, the mobiledevice may determine that the second managed user account is currentlyin focus based on an indication that the mobile device is within ageographical fence (also referred to herein as a geofence) of a secondMAM service provider. Particularly, the second MAM service provider(e.g., a corporation or other entity) may set a geofence (e.g., aperimeter defined by, for example, geographic locations). The geofencemay be associated with the location of a building or campus of thesecond MAM service provider and/or the home of the user. The mobiledevice (and/or the secure application wrapper) may monitor stateinformation of the mobile device including the GPS location of themobile device. The mobile device may determine from the monitored stateinformation that the mobile device is currently within the geofence and,in response, may automatically indicate/determine that the secondmanaged user account is currently in focus. For example, the mobiledevice may determine that the second managed user account is currentlyin focus based on an indication that the mobile device has established anetwork connection with the second MAM service provider. Particularly,the mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper) may determinebased on the monitored state information that the mobile device hasconnected to the intranet or other network of the entity and, inresponse, may determine that the second managed user account iscurrently in focus. Additionally or alternatively, for example, themobile device may determine that the second managed user account iscurrently in focus based on a command received by the mobile devicerequesting the mobile device to move the one or more second managedtasks to the foreground context. Particularly, the second MAM serviceprovider (e.g., the entity) may determine that the second managed useraccount is currently in focus and, in response, may send a command tothe mobile device indicating that the second managed user account iscurrently in focus.

In step 1015, the mobile device may move first managed tasks from theforeground context to the background context. For example, in responseto determining in step 1010 that the second managed user account iscurrently in focus, the mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may, in step 1015, initiate movement of execution of the one ormore first managed tasks to the background context. Once moved, the userof the mobile device might no longer be able to interact with the firstmanaged tasks and/or the first managed user account.

In step 1020, the mobile device may move second managed tasks from thebackground context to the foreground context. For example, in responseto determining in step 1010 that the second managed user account iscurrently in focus, the mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may, in step 1020, initiate movement of execution of the one ormore second managed tasks to the foreground context for execution. Oncemoved, the user of the mobile device may be able to interact with thesecond managed tasks and/or the second managed user account. Forexample, the mobile device may display second managed information of thesecond managed user account when the one or more second managed tasksare within the foreground context. The mobile device may also continueexecution of the one or more second managed tasks in the foregroundcontext in accordance with the second set of MAM policies. For example,one or more of the second managed tasks may include syncing the secondmanaged information with the second MAM service provider. The mobiledevice may have begun the syncing in the background context of themulti-account managed application. Once moved to the foreground context,the mobile device may continue execution of the syncing of the secondmanaged information with the second MAM service provider. In someembodiments, the mobile device may block enforcement of the first set ofMAM polices on the one or more second managed tasks. In blocking theenforcement, the mobile device may override the first set of MAMpolicies when the first set of MAM policies apply to the one or moresecond managed tasks.

In step 1025, the mobile device may continue execution of the firstmanaged tasks in the background context of the multi-account managedapplication. For example, in step 1025, during the displaying of thesecond managed information by the mobile device, the mobile device maycontinue execution of the one or more first managed tasks in thebackground context in accordance with the first set of MAM policies andindependent of the second set of MAM policies. For example, one or moreof the first managed tasks may be a sync operation to sync first manageduser account information with a first MAM service provider. The mobiledevice may begin execution of the sync operation in the foregroundcontext of the multi-account managed application when, for example, thefirst managed user account is currently in focus. In some embodiments,the mobile device may block enforcement of the second set of MAM policeson the one or more first managed tasks. In blocking the enforcement, themobile device may override the second set of MAM policies when thesecond set of MAM policies apply to the one or more first managed tasks.

After step 1025, the method may return to step 1010 where the mobiledevice may again determine which user account is currently in focus. Ifthe second managed user account is still currently in focus, steps1015-1025 may be repeated. Alternatively, if the first managed useraccount is now currently in focus or if in the first instance of doingthe determining of step 1010 the first managed user account was infocus, the method may proceed to step 1030 in which the first managedtasks may be moved to the background context.

In particular, in step 1030, the mobile device may move the secondmanaged tasks from the foreground context to the background context ofthe multi-account managed application. For example, in step 1030, inresponse to determining that the first managed user account is currentlyin focus, the mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper) mayinitiate movement of execution of the one or more second managed tasksfrom the foreground context to the background context. Once moved, theuser of the mobile device might no longer be able to interact with theone or more second managed tasks and/or the second managed user account.

In some embodiments, the mobile device (and/or the secure applicationwrapper) may initiate and move execution of the one or more secondmanaged tasks from the foreground context to the background context forother reasons. For example, the mobile device may move execution of theone or more second managed tasks in response to user input, anindication that the mobile device is outside of the geofence set by thesecond MAM service provider, a command received from the second MAMservice provider requesting the mobile device to move the second managedtasks to the background context, an indication that the mobile device nolonger has a network connection with the second MAM service provider, anindication that another account different from the second managed useraccount is currently in focus, an indication that the second manageduser account is not currently in focus, and/or other monitored stateinformation of the multi-account managed application and/or the mobiledevice.

In step 1035, the mobile device may move the first managed tasks fromthe background context to the foreground context. For example, in step1035, in response to determining that the first managed user account iscurrently in focus, the mobile device may initiate movement of executionof the one or more first managed tasks from the background context tothe foreground context for execution. Once moved, the user of the mobiledevice may interact with the first managed tasks and/or the firstmanaged user account. For example, the mobile device may display firstmanaged information of the first managed user account when the one ormore first managed tasks is within the foreground context. The mobiledevice may also continue execution of the one or more first managedtasks in the foreground context in accordance with the first set of MAMpolicies and independent of the second set of MAM policies. For example,one or more of the first managed tasks may include syncing the firstmanaged information with the first MAM service provider. The mobiledevice may have begun the syncing in the background context of themulti-account managed application. Once moved to the foreground context,the mobile device may continue execution of the syncing of the firstmanaged information with the first MAM service provider. In someembodiments, the mobile device may block enforcement of the second setof MAM polices on the one or more first managed tasks. In blocking theenforcement, the mobile device may override the second set of MAMpolicies when the second set of MAM policies apply to the one or morefirst managed tasks.

In step 1040, the mobile device may continue execution of the one ormore second managed tasks in the background context of the multi-accountmanaged application. For example, in step 1040, during the continuingexecution of the first managed tasks (e.g., during the displaying of thefirst managed information) by the mobile device, the mobile device maycontinue executing the one or more second managed tasks in thebackground context in accordance with the second set of MAM policies andindependent of the first set of MAM policies. For example, one or moreof the second managed tasks may be a sync operation to sync secondmanaged user account information with the second MAM service provider.The mobile device may begin execution of the sync operation (i.e., asecond managed task) in the foreground context of the multi-accountmanaged application when, for example, the second managed user accountis currently in focus and continue execution in the background wheneither the first managed user account is in focus and/or when the secondmanaged user account is not currently in focus. In some embodiments, themobile device may block enforcement of the first set of MAM polices onthe one or more second managed tasks. In blocking the enforcement, themobile device may override the first set of MAM policies when the firstset of MAM policies apply to the one or more second managed tasks.

In some embodiments, the mobile device may begin execution of the one ormore second managed tasks in the foreground context. In someembodiments, the mobile device may begin execution of the one or moresecond managed tasks and the one or more first managed tasks in theforeground context.

After step 1040, the method may return to step 1010 where the mobiledevice may again determine which user account is currently in focus. Ifthe second managed user account is currently in focus, steps 1015-1025may be repeated. Alternatively, if the first managed user account iscurrently in focus, steps 1030-1040 may be repeated.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart that illustrates a method of performingtasks in a background context in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein. In one or more embodiments, themethod of FIG. 11 and/or one or more steps thereof may be performed by acomputing device (e.g., generic computing device 201). In otherembodiments, the method illustrated in FIG. 11 and/or one or more stepsthereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructions that arestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory.

As seen in FIG. 11, the method may begin at step 1105 in which a mobiledevice may initialize a partially managed application. For example, instep 1105, a mobile device may initialize a partially managedapplication associated with one or more of a first managed user accountfor a user, a second managed user account for the same user, and/or anunmanaged user account for the same user. The mobile device may executein the background context of the partially managed application one ormore unmanaged tasks, one or more first managed tasks, and/or one ormore second managed tasks.

In step 1110, the mobile device may execute one or more first managedtasks in the background context in accordance with the first set of MAMpolicies. For example, in step 1110, the one or more first managed tasksmay include communicating with another device outside of the mobiledevice. Particularly, the mobile device may communicate, in thebackground context, first managed information associated with the firstmanaged user account with another device (e.g., a server of the firstMAM service provider) in accordance with a first set of MAM policiesprovided by a first MAM service provider and independent of a second setof MAM policies provided by a second MAM service provider. The first setof MAM policies may mandate that the communications with the otherdevice must be encrypted in accordance with a first encryption protocol.As a result, the mobile device (and/or the secure application wrapper)may encrypt the communications and then send the communications to theother device. The mobile device may also receive encryptedcommunications from the other device and then may decrypt the encryptedcommunications.

In step 1115, the mobile device may execute one or more second managedtasks in the background context in accordance with the second set of MAMpolicies. For example, in step 1115, the one or more second managedtasks may include communicating with another device outside of themobile device. Particularly, the mobile device may communicate, in thebackground context, second managed information associated with thesecond managed user account with another device (e.g., a server of thesecond MAM service provider) in accordance with the second set of MAMpolicies provided by the second MAM service provider and independent ofthe first set of MAM policies provided by the first MAM serviceprovider. The second set of MAM policies may mandate that thecommunications with the other device (e.g., the second MAM serviceprovider) must be encrypted in accordance with a second encryptionprotocol. The second encryption protocol may be different than the firstencryption protocol. As a result, the mobile device (and/or the secureapplication wrapper) may encrypt the communications and then send thecommunications to the other device. The mobile device may also receiveencrypted communication from the other device and then may decrypt theencrypted communications. In some embodiments, the mobile device may,during the execution of the one or more first managed tasks, execute theone or more second managed tasks.

In step 1120, the mobile device may execute one or more unmanaged tasksin the background context. For example, in step 1120, the one or moreunmanaged tasks may include communicating with another device outside ofthe mobile device. Particularly, the mobile device may communicate, inthe background context, unmanaged information associated with theunmanaged user account with another device (e.g., a server of theunmanaged service provider) independent of the first set of MAM policiesand independent of the second set of MAM policies. As a result, themobile device may send the communications associated with the unmanageduser account in an unencrypted form (e.g., without using any encryptionprotocol mandated by the first or second set of MAM policies). In someembodiments, the communication associated with the unmanaged useraccount may be encrypted according a third encryption protocol and thensend the encrypted communications to the other device. The thirdencryption protocol may be different from the first encryption protocoland the second encryption protocol. In some embodiments, the mobiledevice may, during the execution of the one or more first managed tasksand/or the execution of the one or more second managed tasks, executethe one or more unmanaged tasks.

In some embodiments, the mobile device may execute two or more of steps1110-1120 substantially concurrently. In particular, the mobile devicemay concurrently execute in the background context one or more firstmanaged tasks, one or more second managed tasks, and/or one or moreunmanaged tasks. For example, the mobile device may communicate withresources of different MAM service providers or another service providersubstantially concurrently. In some embodiments, the steps 1110-1120 maybe performed in any order and, in some instances, may be performedrepeatedly in different orders.

The encryption protocols discussed above may be any encryption protocol.For example, the first encryption protocol may be a point to pointprotocol and the second encryption protocol may be a transport layerprotocol. One or more of the protocols may include public-keyinfrastructure (PKI) and/or any other encryption technique.

As illustrated above, various aspects of the disclosure relate toproviding mobile application management functionalities. In otherembodiments, however, the concepts discussed herein can be implementedin any other type of computing device (e.g., a desktop computer, aserver, a console, a set-top box, a mobile phone, etc.). Thus, althoughthe subject matter has been described in language specific to structuralfeatures and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that thesubject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limitedto the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts described above are described as some exampleimplementations of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: executing, by a mobile device, a partially managed application having a first managed user account and an unmanaged user account, wherein one or more unmanaged tasks of the unmanaged user account are executed in a foreground context and independent of a first set of managed policies associated with the first managed user account, and wherein one or more first managed tasks of the first managed user account are executed in a background context and in accordance with the first set of managed policies; monitoring, by the mobile device, state information of the mobile device; determining, based on a change in the state information of the mobile device and the first set of managed policies, whether the first managed user account or the unmanaged user account should be in focus; and in response to determining that the first managed user account should be in focus, moving the one or more unmanaged tasks from the foreground context and to the background context for continued execution; and moving the one or more first managed tasks from the background context and to the foreground context for continued execution.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the first managed user account should be in focus is in response to the mobile device entering a geofence specified by the first set of managed policies.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: in response to determining that the mobile device has exited the geofence specified by the first set of managed policies, moving the one or more unmanaged tasks from the background context and to the foreground context for continued execution; and moving the one or more first managed tasks from the foreground context and to the background context for continued execution.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the first managed user account should be in focus is in response to the mobile device establishing a connection with a network specified by the first set of managed policies.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: in response to determining that the mobile device no longer has the connection with the network specified by the first set of managed policies, moving the one or more unmanaged tasks from the background context and to the foreground context for continued execution; and moving the one or more first managed tasks from the foreground context and to the background context for continued execution.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: permitting execution of a particular task for the unmanaged user account; and preventing execution of the particular task for the first managed user account based on the first set of managed policies.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the particular task is a copy operation, a content-editing operation, an external communication operation, an internal communication operation, a request to access a camera of the mobile device, a request to access an external resource, or a request to activate a communication function.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the partially managed application has a second managed user account that is managed according to a second set of managed policies, wherein the second managed user account is different from the first managed user account, and wherein the second set of managed policies is different from the first set of managed policies.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first set of managed policies is set by a first mobile application management provider and the second set of managed policies is set by a second mobile application management provider, wherein the second mobile application management provider is different from the first mobile application management provider.
 10. A non-transitory storage medium storing machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a mobile device to: execute a multi-account managed application having a first managed user account and a second managed user account, wherein one or more first managed tasks of the first managed user account are executed in a foreground context, in accordance with a first set of managed policies, and independent of a second set of managed policies associated with the second managed user account, and wherein one or more second managed tasks of the second managed user account are executed in a background context in accordance with the second set of managed policies and independent of the first set of managed policies; monitor state information of the mobile device; determine, based on a change in the state information of the mobile device, the first set of managed policies, and the second set of managed policies, whether the first managed user account or the second managed user account should be in focus; and in response to a determination that the second managed user account should be in focus, move the one or more first managed tasks from the foreground context and to the background context for continued execution; and move the one or more second managed tasks from the background context and to the foreground context for continued execution.
 11. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the determination that the second managed user account should be in focus is in response to the mobile device entering a geofence specified by the second set of managed policies.
 12. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the determination that the second managed user account should be in focus is in response to the mobile device establishing a connection with a network specified by the second set of managed policies.
 13. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the machine-executable instructions, when executed, further cause the mobile device to: permit execution of a particular task for the first managed user account based on the first set of managed policies; and prevent execution of the particular task for the second managed user account based on the second set of managed policies.
 14. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13, wherein the particular task is a copy operation, a content-editing operation, an external communication operation, an internal communication operation, a request to access a camera of the mobile device, a request to access an external resource, or a request to activate a communication function.
 15. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the multi-account managed application has an unmanaged user account.
 16. An apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory storing machine-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: execute a multi-account managed application having a first managed user account, a second managed user account, and an unmanaged user account; wherein one or more unmanaged tasks of the unmanaged user account are executed in a foreground context, independent of a first set of managed policies associated with the first managed user account, and independent of a second set of managed policies associated with the second managed user account, wherein one or more first managed tasks of the first managed user account are executed in a background context in accordance with the first set of managed policies and independent of the second set of managed policies, and wherein one or more second managed tasks of the second managed user account are executed in the background context in accordance with the second set of managed policies and independent of the first set of managed policies; monitor state information of the apparatus; determine, based on a change in the state information of the apparatus, the first set of managed policies, and the second set of managed policies, whether the unmanaged user account, the first managed user account, or the second managed user account should be in focus; and in response to a determination that the first managed user account should be in focus, move the one or more unmanaged tasks from the foreground context and to the background context for continued execution; and move the one or more first managed tasks from the background context and to the foreground context for continued execution.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the determination that the first managed user account should be in focus is in response to the apparatus entering a geofence specified by the first set of managed policies.
 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the determination that the first managed user account should be in focus is in response to the apparatus establishing a connection with a network specified by the first set of managed policies.
 19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the machine-executable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to: permit execution of a particular task for the unmanaged user account; permit execution of the particular task for the first managed user account based on the first set of managed policies; and prevent execution of the particular task for the second managed user account based on the second set of managed policies.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the particular task is a copy operation, a content-editing operation, an external communication operation, an internal communication operation, a request to access a camera of the apparatus, a request to access an external resource, or a request to activate a communication function. 